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UOS  HJ^ 

The  Human  Nature  Club 

An  Introduction  to  the 
Study    of  Mental    Life 


BY 


EDWARD  THORNDIKE,  Ph.  D. 

Instructor  in  Genetic  Psychology  Teachers  College, 
Columbia  University,  New  York 


//X44 


LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO, 
91  AND  93  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 

LONDON  AND  BOMBAY 
I901 


^^^^ 


Copyright,  1900 
By  Edward  Thorndike 


Copyright,  1901 
By  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co. 


^//  rights  reserved. 


•"^  •^  Jl 


First  Edition  ( published  at  the  Chautauqua 
Press)  1900.  Second  Edition,  revised 
and   with    additions,   January,    1 901. 


to 

I 


-3 


•     -•  iiujeaB  ofpet/i.    i  ' 
C/  .  ,6ttGL     poo^a     HI     siccoiq     ^1      >>     ■'• 

This  book  aims  to  introduce  the  reader  to  the 
scientific  study  of  human  nature  and  intelligence. 
It  is  intended  to  be  useful  to  intelligent  people  in 
general  and  especially  to  young  students  in  normal 
and  high  schools  beginning  the  study  of  psychology. 
The  author  has  tried  to  write  so  simply  that  pre- 
vious knowledge  of  science,  explanation  by  a  teacher, 
and  even  unpleasant  effort  on  the  part  of  the  reader, 
will  be  unnecessary.  At  the  same  time  he  has  tried 
to  be  true  to  fact  and  sound  in  method. 

One  must  not  expect  too  much  of  a  book  which 
tries  to  handle  psychological  questions  without 
resort  to  technical  words  and  without  presupposing 
knowledge  of  elementary  science.  If  the  book  tells 
a  little  truth  and  does  not  deceive  readers  into  think- 
ing that  it  tells  more  than  a  little,  it  may  serve  a  good 
purpose  in  waking  people  up  to  the  possibility  of  a 
scientific  study  of  human  nature,  and  introducing 
them  to  some  of  the  published  results  of  such  study. 

For  the  unconventional  form  and  for  the  adoption 
of  a  thoroughly  fictitious  dialogue,  no  excuse  is 
offered.  The  fiction  is  frankly  announced  and 
should  certainly  not  prevent  the  reader  from  realizing 
that  all  the  pretended  discoveries  of  the  members 


vi  Preface 

of  the  Human  Nature  Club  are  really  the  results  of 
long  labors  by  trained  thinkers. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  author  is  indebted 
to  psychological  literature  in  general  so  far  as  he  is 
acquainted  with  it.  In  particular  he  is  indebted  to 
the  writings  and  teachings  of  Professor  William 
James,  who  is  so  often  paraphrased  in  this  book. 
The  debt  to  Professor  James  is  so  evident  that  it 
seems  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  many  places 
where  his  formulae  have  been  made  to  do  service. 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  New  York, 
December,  igoo. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
I 

II 

l/III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 

XIX 

Index 


What  the  Brain  Does    . 

Things  We  Do  Without  Learning 

Different  Ways  of  Learning 

Our  Senses 

The  Infliience  of  Past  Experience 

Attention 

Memory 

Trains  of  Thought 

Mental  Imagery 

Our  Emotions 

Purposive  Action 

Habit  and  Character 

Suggestion 

Imitation 

Mental  Training 

Heredity  and  Environment 

A  Review 

Some  Deeper  Questions  about  Human  Nature 

Some  Advice  from  the   Editor   about   Means 
of  Studying  Human  Nature 


PAOB 

I 

20 
29 
42 

57 
65 
76 
86 
100 

115 

127 

138 
148 
163 
170 
181 
197 
200 

214 
233 


Vll 


THE  HUMAN  NATURE  CLUB 


A  CHAPTER   I 


WHAT  THE   BRAIN   DOES 


Mrs.  Ralston  stood  at  the  door  of  her  son's  room 
and  knocked.  "Breakfast  in  five  minutes,  Arthur. 
I  thought  you  got  up  when  I  called  before."  "All 
right;  I'll  be  down,"  came  from  within,  and  Mrs. 
Ralston  went  downstairs.  There  she  found  the  rest 
of  the  family  assembled  in  the  sitting-room.  "Arthur 
will  be  down  in  a  few  minutes;  we'll  wait  for  him," 
she  said;  and  then  turning  to  Mr.  Tasker,  who  was 
half  boarder,  half  friend  of  the  family,  "How  did  you 
like  the  lecture  last  night?" 

"It  was  fine,"  was  the  reply.  "Solid  and  worth 
while,  and  still  very  entertaining.  His  general  theme 
was  the  interesting  things  one  can  find  in  the  world 
all  about  him  if  he'll  only  look.  You  remember  how 
we  puzzled  over  his  title,  'They  Have  Eyes'?  He 
claimed,  for  instance,  that  we  could  see  how  the  rivers 
and  valleys  and  plains  and  lakes  have  been  formed  if 
we'd  only  watch  Bear  Brook." 

"Yes!"  broke  in  Mrs.  Elkin,  Mrs.  Ralston's  mar- 
ried daughter;  "but  don't  you  think  that  it  depends 
on  who  looks?  The  geologist  sees  all  those  things  in 
Bear  Brook  because  he  knows  geology,  just  as  a  cook 
could   tell  just   how  hot  the  oven  was  by  looking  at 


12  The  Human  Nature  Club 

a  loaf  of  cake,  while  you,  though  you  are  a  school- 
master, couldn't  see  anything  but  dough  and  crust." 
"I  know  that's  so  in  some  things,"  said  her  hus- 
band; "for  don't  you  remember  how  the  man  who 
had  the  high  school  before  Tasker  would  see  all  sorts 
of  bugs  and  worms  when  he  was  walking  along  the 
road,  things  you   couldn't   see  till  he  almost  put  his 
finge'r  on  them?     It  isn't  the  eyes  that  see;  it's  the 
knowledge  behind  them.^    It  wasn't  his  eyes;  it  was 
his  course  at  the  state  agricultural  college.     I  thought 
last  night  at  the  lecture  that  if  it  weren't  so,  I  wouldn't 
have  any  excuse  for  knowing  almost  nothing  of  the 
world  outside  the  boot  and  shoe  business  and  the, art 
of  beguiling  brook-trout.     You  have  to  study  a  long 
while  before  you  can  see  things.      If  there  were  any 
science   that  didn't  need  systematic  school  training, 
I'd  study  it." 

"I  wish  we  could  study  the  real  world  somehow," 
replied  Tasker.  "We've  had  a  Browning  class  and 
a  Greek  art  class  and  a  Church  History  class,  and 
I  wouldn't  wonder  if  it  would  do  us  good  to  stop 
studying  books  and  study  real  things  for  a  while. 

"Let's  study  breakfast,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston. 
"I  wonder  what's  the  matter  with  Arthur?" 

"I'll  run  up  and  bring  him  down,"  said  Mr.    Elkin. 
"The  rest  of  you  go  ahead." 

He  went  up  and  entered  Arthur's    room    without 

knocking. 

There  sat  Arthur,  all  dressed  except  one  shoe, 
which  he  held  in  his  right  hand.  His  left  hand  was 
scratching  his  head,  and  his  face  wore  a  meditative 
expression. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  3 

"What's  the  matter,  Arthur?  Breakfast's  all 
ready." 

"I  know  that,  Elkin.  Say!  Can  you  tell  me  how 
many  stairs  you  just  came  up?" 

"What  in  the  world  do  you  want  to  know  that  for? 
Come  on  down  to  breakfast." 

"I  won't  go  down  those  stairs  till  I  either  know 
how  many  stairs  there  are  or  know  why  I  don't  know. 
I  don't  believe  you  know  yourself." 

"There  are — there  are — well,  I  guess  I  don't. 
Odd,  too;  I've  been  up  and  down  them  hundreds  of 
times." 

Arthur  began  to  laugh  at  his  brother-in-law,  and 
the  latter  to  cover  his  confusion  went  out  and  called 
to  those  below:  "Come  up  here,  everybody.  Arthur's 
gone  daft.      He's  sitting  here  raving  about  stairs." 

"Yes!  Come  up  here,"  cried  Arthur;  "we'll  see 
who's  the  fool.  Stand  up  'n  a  row  there,"  he  added 
as  they  came  into  the  room.  "How  many  stairs  did 
you  just  come  up,  mother?  Well,  well!  And  you've 
been  up  those  stairs  thousands  of  times.  Next!  Next! 
Eyes  to  see!     This  is  an  observant  family." 

"What's  got  into  you,  Arthur?"  said  his  sister. 
"It  is  queer  that  we  should  all  know  so  little  about 
a  thing  we've  done  so  often;  but  what  started  you 
thinking  such  stuff?" 

"You  know  that  lecture  last  night?  Well,  when 
I  got  out  of  the  bath-tub  I  thought  I'd  start  in  to 
observe  things,  and  I  wondered  what  I  could  observe, 
and  then  I  wondered  why  I  felt  fresh  from  a  cold 
bath,  and  I  couldn't  tell;  and  that  set  me  thinking 
while  I  was  dressing  that  lots  of  common  things  were 


The  Human  Nature  Club 

really  rather  mysterious,  ar.d  then  it  struck  me  that 
I  had  dressed  myself  without  thinking  about  it  at  all 
and  I  wondered  at  that;  and  then  I  noticed  that  I  had 
my  right  shoe  on,  and  I  wondered  if  I  always  put  that 
one  on  first;  and  then  I  wondered  about  doing  things 
without  thinking  about  them,  and  thought  of  the  next 
thing   I   had    to  do-to  go  downstairs,   that  is-and 
I  realized  that  I  generally  did  that  without  thinking 
how  to  do  it  at  the  time,  and  then  it  struck  me  that  I 
really  couldn't  think  how  to  do  it,  that  I  didn  t  even 
know  whether  there  were  a  dozen  steps  or  twenty^ 
And  then  I  wotidered  how  I  could  have  gone  up  and 
down  those  stairs  and  never  noticed  that.^    I  suppose 
you  folks  are  hungry  and  think  I'm  silly. 

-Yes!     I  know    why  I    want    to    eat,"    remarked 

Mr.  Elkin.  n^^^Uc^r- 

They  ate  their  meal  in  a  queer  way.  Mr.  Tasker 
sat  with  his  brows  furrowed,  whispering  occasionally 
to  himself.  Arthur  would  occasionally  stop  eating 
to  stare  at  some  one  or  apparently  to  question  himself. 
At  last  he  blurted  out,  "Why  do  you  suppose  Emma 
likes  boiled   eggs,    while   I.    her  brother,    abominate 

Everybody  laughed  except  Mr.  Tasker.  He  pulled 
out  his  watch,  and  said:  •'Will  you  all  please  hsten  to 
me  a  few  minutes?  I  have  a  scheme.  If  you  U  keep 
still  for  five  minutes,  I'll  tell  you  about  .t.  I  must 
so  down  to  the  school  at  a  quarter-past  eight  and 
L  can  make  fun  of  it  after  I've  gone.  You  know 
before  the  excitement  of  Arthur's  discovery  we  were 
saying  that  it  would  be  a  fine  thing  if  we  could  study 
some  things  in  the  real  world  for  ourselves,  mstead 


The  Human  Nature  Club  5 

of  just  soaking  in  book  knowledge,  if  we  could  get 
the  sort  of  pleasure  (and  profit  too)  that  the  lecturer 
last  night  told  us  came  from  looking  to  see  how  things 
really  are.  Now,  no  one  of  us  has  enough  knowledge 
to  start  in  studying  bugs  or  plants  or  brooks,  and  not 
all  of  us  have  enough  of  an  interest  in  any  one  of 
these  things  to  induce  us  to  do  the  studying.  But 
I  believe  there's  one  thing  that  we're  all  interested  in, 
that's  well  worth  looking  at,  but  that  doesn't  require 
us  to  read  German  books  or  buy  microscopes  or 
make  big  collections.  Arthur  has  opened  his  eyes 
to  it  this  morning,  and  I  got  my  idea  from  him.  Let's 
look  and  see  how  real  people  live  and  act  and  think. 
Let's  get  our  eyes  open  to  human  nature,  to  the  real 
world,  not  of  mountains,  or  brooks,  or  birds,  or 
beetles,  but  of  people.  Let's  have  a  club,  'The 
Human  Nature  Club,'  whose  business  it  shall  be  to 
see  how  and  why  we  and  our  friends  do  the  things  we 
do,  think  the  thoughts  we  think.  Let's  start  in  by 
finding  out  how  we  can  dress  ourselves  without  think- 
ing about  it,  and  how  we  can  go  up  and  down  a  flight 
of  stairs  from  one  to  twenty  years  without  learning  how 
many  stairs  there  are.  Think  it  over;  I  must  go. 
Good  morning  all!" 

"Wait  a  minute;  I'll  go  with  you,"  said  Arthur. 
They  left  the  house  together,  Mr.  Tasker  going  to 
the  high  school  and  Arthur  to  his  duties  as  assistant 
manager  of  the  Redpath  Tool  Company. 

Mr.  Tasker  did  not  return  to  the  house  till  nearly 
eight  o'clock  that  evening.  When  he  came  into  the 
sitting-room  he  was  surprised  to  see  besides  the  regu- 
lar household,  Miss  Fairbanks,   a  music-teacher  who 


6  The  Human  Nature  Club 

lived    in    the    neighborhood,    Miss    Atwell    and    Miss 
Clark     two   teachers  in  the  graded  school,   and  Mr. 
Henshaw,     the    manager,    editor,    chief    reporter-in 
fact    the  general  producer  of  the  Westfield  Register. 
-Who  is  having  a  surprise  party?"  he  exclaimed. 
-This  is  the  Human  Nature  Club,"  replied  Mrs. 
Elkin      "I  spent  most  of  the  morning  talking  about 
it    and  all  of  the  afternoon  hunting  these  folks  and 
telling  them  about  it.     We've  just  elected  you  boss, 
or  rather  president,  and  we're  ready  to  start  ahead. 

"We've  progressed  this  far,"  added  the  editor. 
"Everybody  here  knows  that  the  scheme  is  to  watch 
real  people,  especially  ourselves,  to  see  what^they 
are  how  they  learn  things,  why  they  think  and  feel 
and  act  as  they  do.  Everybody  is  to  keep  his  eyes 
open  for  facts  about  people.  We  had  just  begun  to 
air  our  wisdom  in  connection  with  that  mystery  of  the 
stairs.      Now,  how  shall  we  run  this  organization,  Mr. 

President?"  ^^  ,    ^ 

"I  suggest,"  responded  Mr.  Tasker,  that  we 
leave  rules  and  regulations  till  we  have  investigated 
the  'mystery  of  the  stairs,'  as  you  call  it.  What  did 
you  decide,  Arthur?     You  are  the  father  of  this,  our 

first  problem." 

"I  don't  know  that  I  have  decided.  I  ve  been 
thinking  of  a  number  of  things  like  it,  things  which 
I  can  get  along  with  first-rate,  but  which  I  don't  seem 
to  know  much  about.  I  didn't  know  whether  there 
were  four  or  five  or  six  buttons  on  my  vest;  I  don  t 
know  how  many  hooks  there  are  in  my  closet,  though 
I've  used  that  closet  for  eight  years." 

"It's  the  same  sort  of  thing,   isn't  it,   when  I  go 


The  Human  Nature  Club  7 

along  the  hall  in  the  dark  and  stop  just  in  front  of  my 
bedroom  door?  I  couldn't  for  the  life  of  me  tell  how 
many  steps  I  take,  but  I  always  stop  in  the  right  place. " 

''That's  like  my  playing  the  piano,"  said  Miss 
Fairbanks;  "I  see  the  notes  and  put  my  fingers  on 
the  keys,  but  I  don't  once  think,  'That  is  G, '  or  'That 
is  a  half-note  higher,'  or  'Now  I  will  stretch  my  little 
finger  way  out.'  Of  course  I  could  if  I  stopped  to 
think  about  it,  but  I  don't,  any  more  than  you  think 
of  the  number  of  stairs  or  the  number  of  steps.  I'm 
sure  we  all  do  do  things  that  way  without  thinking 
about  them,  and  we  can  agree  for  a  start  that  one  can 
do  things  without  at  the  time  or  afterward  knowing 
much  about  it." 

"That  is  so,"  said  Mr.  Tasker;  "but  it  makes  two 
new  questions  out  of  our  old  one.  In  the  first  place, 
how  do  we  come  to  do  things  without  having  to  think 
about  what  we're  doing?  In  the  second  place,  how 
do  we  know  so  little  afterward  about  what  we've  done 
so  many  times?" 

"I  think  that  perhaps  I  can  answer  the  first  ques- 
tion," said  Miss  Atwell.  "When  I  was  visiting  Kate 
Maxwell,  at  Barnard  College,  I  went  to  some  classes 
with  her,  and  at  one  of  them  the  professor  was  lec- 
turing about  the  brain.  /He  said  that  the  brain  was 
a  machine  for  connecting  our  bodily  acts  or  move- 
ments with  what  we  heard  and  saw  and  felt?)  For 
instance,  the  reason  why  when  you  see  a  team  coming, 
you  get  out  of  the  way,  is  that  some  sort  of  commotion 
in  your  eyes  is  transmitted  along  a  nerve  to  your 
brain  and  stirs  up  some  commotion  there,  which  is 
transmitted  through  other  nerves  to  your  muscles  and 


8  The  Human  Nature  Club 

somehow  makes  them  move  your  body  in  such  a  fash- 
ion that  you  run  across  the  street  out  of  the  way.     As 
far  as  I  could  make  out,  the  brain  was  hke  the  big 
switchboard  in  the  telephone  offtce.      Messages  com- 
ing   in    from    all  over  the  body    get  connected   with 
the  proper  wires,   so  to  speak,   and   sent  out  to  the 
right   muscles.      Now,    if   I'm   right,    all   you  have  to 
suppose  to  answer  our  question  is  that  the  commotion 
or  message  can  be  sent  to  the  right  muscles  without 
your  thinking  about  it-without  the   operator  at  the 
switchboard  having  to  bother  about  it,  to  stick  to  my 
illustration.      Thus   just   seeing   the  top  of   the  stairs 
and  feeling  each  one  as  you  step  rouses  just  the  right 
movements.    When  you  were  first  learning  to  play  the 
piano   you   would  make  mistakes  and  have   to  think 
about  what  you  were  doing,  but  after  enough  practice 
the  brain  would  do  the  work  of  itself.      The  commo- 
tion aroused  in  the  brain  by  seeing  the  notes  of  a  cer- 
tain chord  would  go  in  a  certain  way— that  is,  to  the 
right  muscles-because  it  had  gone  that  way  so  many 
times       It  would   be   like    water    that    having    worn 
a  certain  channel  always  runs  in  it.      Excuse  me  for 
talking  so  long,  but  I  think  we  can   see  a  reason   for 
our  being  able  to  do  things  unconsciously  if  we  think 
how  the  brain  acts." 

"That  sounds  all  right,  with  one  exception, 
answered  Mr.  Tasker.  "You  say,  if  I  understand  you, 
that  anything  which  we  have  done  in  certain  circum- 
stances tends  to  be  done  again  if  the  same  circum- 
stances occur  again.  But  that  isn't  so  if  the  results 
of  the  act  are  painful.  Little  Helen,  the  first  time 
she  saw  a  candle-when   she   was   about  a  year  and 


The  Human  Nature  Club  9 

a  half  old — put  out  her  hand  to  take  it  and  was 
burned.  According  to  your  theory  she  would  the 
next  time  she  saw  a  candle,  put  out  her  hand.  But 
as  a  matter  of  fact  she  didn't.  She  shrank  back 
without  reaching.  What  you  say  is  true  of  cases 
where  the  results  are  pleasurable  or  indifferent,  and 


Fig.  I. 


explains  our  cases,   but  it  needn't  always  be   true. 
Isn't  that  so?" 

Miss  Atwell  nodded  assent,  and  Mr.  Tasker  con- 
tinued: "I  wish  you'd  let  me  draw  a  picture  to  show 
my  notion  of  what  you  said  about  the  brain,  and  see 
if  I  understand  you.      Perhaps  it  will  help  us  all." 

Arthur  brought  in  the  baby's  blackboard,  and  Mr. 
Tasker  drew  his  picture  (Figure  i),  giving  at  the 
same  time  the  following  explanation; 


lO 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


"This    picture    is    supposed    to    represent     very 
roughly  what  happens  in  doing  two  things  which  we 
do  automatically-that    is,    without    thinking    about 
how   to   do   them.      The   two   things   are  playing  the 
piano  and  chewing  gum.     In  playing  the  piano  some-^ 
thing  happens  in  the  eye  which  sends  some  sort  of 
a  current  or  commotion  or  explosion  up  to  the  brain, 
as  I  show  by  the  line  a  b.     This  results  in   some  sort 
of  current  or  commotion  being  sent  to  the  muscles 
which  move  the  forearm  and  fingers,  as  I  have  shown 
by  the  dotted  line  B  A.     Just  how  the  thing  coming   . 
from  the  eye  gets  switched  so  that  it  starts  the  thing 
going  to  the  arm  I  don't  know,  as  I  show  that  by  the 
line  of  crosses  b  B,  which  means  simply  that  somehow 
a  b  is  connected   with   ^  ^   so   that   what  the  eye 
sees  influences  what  the  arm  does.     In  chewing  gum 
the  presence  of  the  gum  in  the  mouth  arouses  the  jaw 
muscles  to  act  in  the  same  way,  a  continuous  line, 
m  b      representing    the     mouth-brain    connection,    a 
dotted  line,  B,  /,  the  brain-jaw  muscle  connection, 
and  a  line  of  crosses  the  connection  between  the  two. 
Does  that   represent   the   ideas  of   the   company  and 
agree  with  what  the  professor  said,  Miss  Atwell?" 

"Your  explanation  is  worthy  of  our  high  school 
principal,  but  I'm  glad  you  don't  have  to  teach  draw- 
ing," said  Mr.  Henshaw. 

"Don't  laugh  at  my  drawing,"  was  the  reply;  for 
if  that  represents  the  idea,  I'm  going  to  try  another 
to  show  my  general  idea  of  the  brain  as  I've  derived 
it  from  Miss  Atwell's  description.  Here  is  the  brain 
(Figure  2),  with  a  lot  of  things— nerves,  I  suppose 
Ihey  are-coming  in  from  all  over  the  body  and  bring- 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


II 


ing  in  the  'commotions'  that  correspond  to  the  electric 
currents  coming  in  to  the  telegraph  office  over  the 
wires.  The  continuous  lines  represent  those.  The 
dotted  lines  are  the  nerves  going  out  to  all  the 
muscles.     The  crosses  are  the  connections  made  on 


Fig.  2. 

the  switchboard.  Multiply  all  these  lines  by  thou- 
sands and  you  have  the  brain.      Is  that  right?" 

"It's  right  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  the  brain  is  more 
than  that,  I'm  sure,  though  I  can't  remember  just 
what  else  the  lecturer  did  say  about  it." 

"Why  wouldn't  it  be  a  good  thing  for  me  to  run 
over  to  Dr.  Leighton's  house,  and  see  if  he  can't  tell 
us  a  bit  about  our  brains.  We  can  learn  about  the 
outside  facts  of  human  nature  ourselves  by  watching 
ourselves  and  other  folks,  but  we  can't  watch  our 
brains;  and  he  has  had  the  chance  to  study  them,  so 


la 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


why  not  profit  by  his  experience?  I  think  that  we  U 
find  that  the  brain  plays  a  big  part  in  making  human 
nature  what  it  is  in  other  things  besides  these  uncon- 
scious performances,  habits,  automatic  acts  or  what- 
ever you  call  them."  , 

Mr  Henshaw's  proposition  was  received  with 
approval  and  he  went  after  the  doctor.  The  others 
spent  the  next  ten  minutes  in  talking  over  what  had 
been  said  and  in  congratulating  themselves  on  the 
success  of  their  first  meeting. 

"This  has  been  as  hard  thinking  as  I've  done  for 
a  good  while,  apart  from  business,"  remarked  Mr. 
Elkin-  "yet  I  declare  I've  enjoyed  every  minute  of  it. 
It  pay's  to  think  about  things  if  you  know  anything 
about  them  to  start  with,  and  can  work  them  out  your- 
self  or  make  believe  that  you  do." 

'''My  head  is  full  of  about  twenty  questions  to  be 
investigated,  which  will  be,  if  anything,  more  interest- 
ing than  this  one,"  added  Arthur. 

So  they  kept  on  until  Mr.  Henshaw  came  in  with 
Dr.  Leighton.     After  he  had  greeted  the  company, 

the  doctor  began: 

"Mr  Henshaw  tells  me  that  you  are  observers  ot 
human  nature,  and  have  a  notion  at  the  start  that 
what  people  do  and  feel  depends  largely  on  the  way 
their  brains  work,  and  since  you  can't  yourselves 
observe  what  goes  on  in  people's  brains  you  have 
asked  me  to  tell  you  something  about  it. 

"You    are    quite    right    in    thinking    that    human 
thought  and   action,  in   other   words,  human  nature, 
depend  on  what  happens  in  the  brain.      For  instance 
Mr    Tasker  here   is  a  steady  sort   of   person,  but   if 


The  Human  Nature  Club  13 

I  should  inject  into  his  brain  a  little  of  a  certain  drug, 
he  would  become  very  volatile  and  changeable  for  the 
time  being,  would  feel  very  wretched  and  then  very 
exalted,  etc.  His  nature  would  be  changed  for  the 
time  being.  Let  me  cut  out  a  little  piece  in  one  part 
of  your  brain  and  you'd  never  see  things  any  more. 
Let  me  cut  out  a  little  piece  in  another  place  and  you 
would  lose  your  command  of  language.  Let  a  person 
tire  his  brain  by  overworking  or  maltreating  it  and  his 
nature  grows  irritable.  You  have  all  seen  that  in 
young  children  after  an  exciting,  restless  day.  If  a 
person's  brain  doesn't  grow,  he  may  really  have  no 
human  nature  at  all,  but  be  an  idiot,  almost  like  a 
mere  beast. 

"What,  then,  is  this  brain  of  ours,  and  how  does  it 
do  its  work?  In  order  to  be  clear  I  shall  have  to 
simplify  things  somewhat,  and  I  beg  you  not  to  imagine 
that  in  these  ten  minutes  you  will  get  an  accurate  or 
complete  notion.  I  will  try,  however,  not  to  give 
a  false  notion.  The  brain  and  the  other  parts  of  the 
nervous  system  are  a  very  complicated  apparatus  for 
fitting  our  acts  to  our  surroundings,  for  making  us 
swallow  food  when  it's  in  our  throat,  reach  for  things 
we  want,  take  food  when  we're  hungry,  go  to  work 
when  it's  time,  etc.  The  brain's  business  is  to  be 
influenced  by  what  happens  to  us,  what  we  see,  hear, 
feel,  etc.,  and  to  influence  what  happens  in  us — /.  e., 
what  we  do  or  say.  .^It  thus  is  the  connecting  link 
between  what  the  world  does  to  us  and  what  we  do  to 
the  world,  y 

"Now^to  see  how  the  brain  or  nervous  system  does 
this,  how  it  works,  we  must  see  how  it  is  made.     So 


^ 


14  The  Human  Nature  Club 

first  look  at  this  picture,  a  picture  of  one  of  the  units 
or  '  cells  '  millions  of  which  together  make  up  the 
brain  You  see  that  it  looks  like  a  string  frayed  out 
at  both  ends,  and  has  a  notable  swelling  in  one  place 

and  little  side  strings  running  off 
from  it   and  fraying    out   at   their 
ends.     The  real  thing  which  it  rep- 
resents may  be  very  short  or  may 
be  several  feet  long,  but  it  is  never 
anything  like  as  big  around  as  the 
picture  shows  it.       A  hundred    of 
these  nerve-cells,  or  brain  units,  or 
nerve-strings    stuck   together   in  a 
bundle  would  not  be  as  big  around 
as    the    smallest    needle.        Now, 
imagine  nerve  cells  or  strings  like 
this  with  one  end   in   the   eye  and 
the  other  end  in  the  brain  or  spinal 
cord,  which  is  really  a  part  of  the 
brain.       Imagine    other  thousands 
starting  from    the    ears    and    nose 
and  tongue  and  fingers  and  stomach 
and  joints— in  fact,  from  different 
organs  all  over  the  body— and  end- 
ing  in    the  brain.      Imagine,   also, 
other    thousands    of    such     nerve- 
cells  or  strings   with  one   end   in   the  brain  and  the 
other  end  in  connection  with  some    muscle,  or  per- 
haps gland.      Imagine,  in  the  third  place,  thousands 
of    such    nerve-strings,   entirely    inside    the    brain— 
I  always  mean  to  include  the  spinal  cord,   too— run- 
ning  from   one   part   of   it   to   another.      Imagine   all 


Fig.  3- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  15 

these  strings  to  keep  the  same  places.  Then  you  will 
have  a  notion  of  what  the  brain  and  nervous  system 
is.  It  is  just  the  sum  total  of  all  these  nerve-cells 
running  from  eyes,  ears,  skin,  etc.,  to  a  central  mass, 
where  there  are  a  lot  of  connecting  strings,  and 
running  out  from  it  to  all  the  muscles.  You  were 
quite  right  in  likening  the  brain  to  the  switchboard 
of  a  telephone  ofifice;  and  just  as  a  telephone  system 
is  really  nothing  but  a  lot  of  incoming  and  outgoing 
wires  and  a  lot  of  connecting  wires  at  some  central 
station,  so  the  nervous  system,  including  the  brain,  is 
really  only  a  lot  of  nerve-cells,  incoming  cells,  outgo- 
ing cells  and  connecting  or  associative  cells. 

"That  is  what  the  brain  is.  Now,  what  the  brain 
does  is  just  what  the  particular  nerve  strings  or  cells 
do.  When  we  say  that  anything  is  done  by  the  brain, 
we  mean  just  that  it  is  done  by  one  or  ten  or  ten 
thousand  of  these  nerve  strings  or  cells.  Just  as 
a  telegraph  system  acts  only  as  the  wires  act,  so  the 
brain  acts  only  as  its  cells  act.  How,  then,  do  these 
cells  act?  What  does  a  nerve-cell  do?  If  we  answer 
that  question  we  shall  know  what  the  brain  does. 

"Now  I  shall  tell  you  the  important,  the  essential 
business  of  a  nerve-cell.  There  may  be  other  things 
which  it  does,  but  its  one  sure  and  chief  business,  or 
/u?iction,  to  use  a  scientific  word,  is  to  transmit,  to  so 
act  that  any  commotion  or  action  at  one  end  of  it  will 
be  carried  along  it  to  its  other  end.  If  you  will  call 
to  mind  some  common  cases  of  transmission,  you  will 
get  a  clear  notion  of  what  I  mean.  Drop  a  stone 
in  a  pond,  and  the  wave  around  it  causes  another 
wave  in  a  wider  circle,  that  causes  still  another,  and 


l6  The  Human  Nature  Club 

so  on  till  the  last  wave  may  be  at  the  pond's  edge. 
The  water,  we  say,  has  transmitted  the  wave  from  the 
center  to  the  edge  of  the  pond.  The  action  or  com- 
motion at  the  center  has  been  carried  across  the 
water.  Take  a  piece  of  clothesline  ten  or  fifteen 
feet  long;  shake  one  end  of  it  up  and  down;  the 'wave' 
of  motion  passes  along  the  string  to  the  other  end. 
Put  one  end  of  a  poker  in  the  fire,  and  the  other  end 
gets  hot.  The  electric  discharge  of  a  lightning-flash 
striking  one  end  of  a  lightning-rod  is  transmitted 
along   it   to    the    ground.        The    rod    conducts   it, 

we  say. 

"Now,  we  don't  know  just  what  sort  of  commotion 
it  is  that  a  nerve-cell,   a   nerve-string,    conducts,   or 
just  how  it  transmits  it;  but  we  do  know  that  it  does 
do  it,  that  its  business  is  to  conduct  what  we  may  call 
nerve-currents  or   nervous  discharges  set  up   at  one 
end  of  it  to  its  other  end.    Thus  a  commotion  or  nerve- 
current,  set  up  or  started  in  cells  having  their  ends 
in  the  eye  by  the  sight  of  a  dollar  bill  on  the  sidewalk, 
is  transmitted  or  conducted  along  them  to  their  ends 
in  the  brain.      Now,   this  commotion  or  discharge  or 
current  can   pass  from   the   frayed  end  of  one  cell  to 
the  frayed  end  of  another  cell  close  enough  to  it,  just 
as  the  electric  current  can  go  from  one  wire  to  another 
if  they   are   near  enough.      I'll  show  this  in  a  rough 
picture  (Figure  4)-    So  the  current  started  in  the  eye, 
having  reached  the  brain,  may  go  over  to  the  ends  of 
connecting   cells,    go   along  these,    go   over  to  other 
cells,  go   along   them,  and   finally   end   up   at  certam 
muscles.      It  may  there  make  the   muscles  move   in 
certain  ways  so  that  we  stoop  to  pick  the  dollar  bill 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


17 


Cell  A. 


i 


up,  just  as  an  electric  current  may  be  transmitted 
from  a  battery  through  switch  after  switch  until  it 
finally  ends  in  a  charge  of  dynamite  and  blows  a 
rock  to  pieces. 

"Moreover,  just  as  an  electric  cur- 
rent may  blow  up  a  rock,  or  light  a 
lamp,  or  silver-plate  a  spoon,  or  connect  / 
your  telephone  with  mine,  or  with  Mr. 
Elkin's,  or  with  that  of  some  man  in 
New  York,  according  to  what  connec- 
tions are  made  between  the  different 
wires,  so  the  result  of  any  nerve-cur- 
rent in  a  nerve-cell  depends  on  what 
other  cells  that  cell  is  connected  with. 
One  person's  nerve-cells  are  so  con- 
nected that  the  sight  of  a  mouse  makes 
her  jump  on  a  chair;  another  person's 
nerve-cells  are  so  connected  that  the 
sight  of  a  mouse  makes  him  seize  a  cane 
and  try  to  exterminate  it.  A  cat's 
nerve-cells  are  so  connected  that  the 
sight  of  a  mouse  makes  her  jump  at  it. 
When  people  act  differently  in  the  same 
circumstances,    it   generally  means  that   passes  from  one 

'  °  •'  cell  to  the  other 

their  nerve-cells  have  different  connec-   ''•a  the  frayed 

ends  at  x. 

tions. 

"I  mustn't  take  any  more  of  your  time,  and  I  have 
a  patient  to  see  this  evening,  anyway.  Any  time 
that  I  can   help   you   again,  be  sure  to  let  me  know." 

The  doctor  hastily  left  the  room,  in  the  midst  of 
exclamations  of  thanks  from  the  company. 

"Dr.    Leighton  ought    to    have   been  a  teacher," 


CellB. 


Fig.  4. 

The    current 


1 8  The  Human  Nature  Club 

said  Mr.  Tasker.      "That  was  a  pretty  good  piece  of 
description  to  be  given  extemporaneously." 

"Weill  These  young  doctors  that  the  good  medi- 
cal schools  are  turning  out  know  their  business, 
I  think,"  replied  Mr.  Elkin.  "What  were  you  scrib- 
bling all  the  time?" 

"You'll  be  glad  later  that  I  did  scribble.  I've 
taken  down  every  word  in  shorthand,  and  I'm  going 
to  have  our  typewriter  make  a  copy.  That  talk  of 
the  doctor's  will  do  us  about  ten  times  as  much  good 
if  we  read  it  over  carefully  and  keep  a  copy  to  refer 
to.  It  seems  all  clear  now,  but  by  next  week  it  will 
be  foggy  in  my  mind,  I'm  sure,  if  I  don't  have 
a  chance  to  go  over  it.  If  any  of  you  would  like  to 
do  the  same,  I'll  get  more  copies  made." 

"One  for  me,  please,"  said  Mr.  Tasker;  and  all 
agreed  to  come  to  the  next  meeting  with  all  the 
doctor's  description  clearly  fixed  in  their  minds. 

"It's  time  for  me  to  go,"  said  Miss  Atwell.  "What 
question  is  proposed  for  next  time?" 

"I'd  like  to  know  why  people  who  are  very  old 
think  most  about  things  that  happened  when  they 
were  very  young,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin. 

"And  I'd  like  to  know  why  you  always  break 
dishes  when  you  are  all  tired  out  mentally." 

"I'd  like  to  know  if  there  are  any  things  that  we 
can  do  not  only  without  thinking  about  them,  but  also 
without  even  learning  to  do  them  at  all,"  said  Arthur. 

"I'd  like  to  find  the  explanation  of  some  of  the 
things  the  Christian  Science  people  do,"  added  the 
editor.      "But  let's  leave  it  to  Mr.  Tasker." 

"Well,  I   suggest  that  Arthur's  point  be  taken  up 


The  Human  Nature  Club  19 

first,  at  any  rate,  as  it  seems  more  closely  connected 
with  to-night's  discoveries,  and  also  that  some  one 
sum  up  the  result  of  the  Human  Nature  Club's  find- 
ings so  far.  Is  that  agreed?  Very  well;  I'll  appoint 
Miss  Atwell.  The  Human  Nature  Club  is  adjourned 
until  next  Saturday." 

NOTES   BY   THE    EDITOR. 

The  gist  of  this  chapter  is  that  the  brain  is  a  machine  for 
making  connections  between  what  we  feel  and  what  we  do,  so 
that  we  can  fit  our  acts  to  our  surroundings.  We  can  do  things 
without  thinking  about  them  when  such  connections  have  been 
made.  In  technical  terms,  the  brain  is  an  associative  mechan- 
ism, and  can  carry  on  automatic  activities. 


\ 


CHAPTER    II 

THINGS    WE    DO    WITHOUT    LEARNING 

"The  Human  Nature  Club  will  come  to  order. 
"Let  us  have  the  report  of  the  last  meeting  from 
Miss  Atwell." 

"Mr.  Chairman,  at  its  first  meeting  the  club  inves- 
tigated the  facts  reported   by    Mr.    Arthur   Ralston, 
and  found  that  they  suggested  two  questions:   First,  . 
how  we  could  do  things  without  thinking  of  what  we 
were  doing;  and  secondly,  how  we  could  do  a  thing 
a  great  many  times   and   still  know  very  little  about 
it.      The  latter  question  we  did  not  reach,  as  it  seemed 
rather  apart  from  the  first,  but  the  first  we  answered 
by  saying  that  the  brain  could  learn  by  practice  to  fit 
our  actions  to  our  surroundings  in  certain  cases,  and 
so  finally  get  along  without  any  assistance  from  our 
thoughts;  the  act,  that  is,  becomes  automatic.     With 
the  help  of   Dr.    Leighton,  we  found  the  reason  for 
the  growth  of  such  habits  to  be  the  structure  of  the 
brain,  it  being  really  not,  as  it  looks,  a  big  lump  of 
jelly-like   stuff,    but    a   wonderfully    complex    system 
of  connections  between   the  parts  of  our  body  which 
sense  or  feel  things  and   those  parts  which  cause  our 
actions." 

"If  there  are  no  objections,  this  report  is  accepted. " 

"The  particular  object  of  this  meeting  is  to  report 

observations   of  actual   facts  bearing  on  the  question 

of  whether  there  are  any  things  we  can  do  or  know 

20 


The  Human  Nature  Club  21 

without  learning  them  at  all,  but  I  understand  that  it 
won't  be  considered  unpardonable  if  any  member 
chooses  to  report  interesting  facts  on  any  other  topic. 
I  will  first  call  on  Mrs.  Ralston." 

"Well,  Stephen — or  Mr.  Chairman,  I  should  say — 
I  never  did  suppose  that  I  should  be  asked  to  teach 
folks  anything,  and  I  declare  I  never  should  have 
thought  of  the  things  I  have  this  week  in  the  way 
I  have  if  the  questions  hadn't  been  put  just  so.  But 
when  you  come  to  think  of  it,  breathing  is  quite 
a  thing  to  do,  but  babies  don't  have  to  learn,  and 
they  know  enough  to  suckle  and  to  cry  when  they  are 
left  alone  in  the  dark.  They  know  how  to  put  things 
in  their  mouths — mine  knew  too  well — and  I'm  sure 
nobody  has  to  teach  them  to  ask  questions  or  to  look 
into  every  new  thing  they  come  across.  So  there  are 
some  things  sure." 

"Does  any  one  wish  to  deny  the  correctness  of 
Mrs.  Ralston 's  observations  or  to  oppose  any  contrary 
facts?" 

"I'm  not  sure  about  the  asking  questions,"  said 
Mr.  Henshaw.  "In  the  case  of  our  Robert,  it  seemed 
as  if  he  did  learn  to  ask  questions  by  imitation,  and 
kept  it  up  because  he  liked  to  have  you  talk  to  him — 
liked  to  talk  himself,  too.  I  also  thought,  as  Mrs. 
Ralston  spoke  of  children  touching  and  moving  and 
tasting  and  fooling  with  everything  they  came  across, 
that  it  was  lucky  they  did  so  of  their  own  accord 
without  having  to  learn  to.  If  they  weren't  naturally 
curious  that  way,  they  wouldn't  learn  about  their 
surroundings  half  so  fast.  You  may  have  seen  a  scrap 
I  put  in  the  paper  about  a  week  ago,  quoting  a  great 


22  The  Human  Nature  Club 

scientist,  who  said  that  children  learned  more  about 
the  world  in  their  first  four  years  than  in  any  four 
afterward." 

"I   see   Mrs.    Elkin   has  something  to  say.      Mrs. 

Elkin." 

"I'm  not  sure,  but  I  think  that  children  walk  with- 
out having  to  learn.      It  sounds  preposterous,  because 
we  always  talk  about  teaching  babies  to   walk,   but 
I  really  believe  that  they  walk   of  their  own  accord, 
just  because   they  are  made  so  that  they  feel  like  it 
when  the  proper  time  comes.      For  don't  you  remem- 
ber, mother,  how  the  doctor  told  us  not  to  let  Helen 
stand  or  try  to  get  her  to  walk,  because  he  was  afraid 
it  might  cripple  her,  and  how  one  day  when  we  did 
put  her  down  with  her  feet  on  the  floor  she  started 
right   across   the   room?     She   certainly   walked,    and 
also  certainly  hadn't  ever  tried  before.      I  think  most 
mothers  begin  to  urge  children  before  their  brains  or 
muscles,  or  whatever  it  is,  are  ready." 

*'I  don't  believe  that  can  be  so  with  most  chil- 
dren," said  Miss  Clark,  "or  people  would  have 
noticed  it." 

"That's  a  poor  argument.  Miss  Clark,  if  you'll 
permit  me  to  say  so.  It's  very  evident  that  we  don't 
notice  a  quarter  of  what  really  happens." 

"And  I've  noticed  just  what  Mrs.  Elkin  did,"  said 
Miss  Atwell.  "For  a  while  I  was  a  tutor  to  Dr. 
Prentice's  daughter  in  New  York.  He  was  rather 
queer,  and  he  wouldn't  let  Mrs.  Prentice  or  the  nurse 
urge  the  youngest  boy  at  all.  When  I  went  there  the 
child  could  stand  up  by  a  chair.  I  don't  know  how 
he  came  to  do  that — and  one  day  a  pair  of  cuffs  on 


The  Human  Nature  Club  23 

the  table  caught  his  attention,  and  he  walked  right 
across  and  got  them." 

"Wouldn't  it  be  a  good  thing  to  ask  some  of  the 
people  we  know  who  have  babies  to  watch  them  and 
see,"  said  Miss  Clark.  "If  children  did  really  know 
how  to  walk  when  the  right  time  came,  I  should  think 
it  was  unwise  to  tease  them  to  before  they  were  ready. 
It  might  hurt  their  bones  or  something." 

"That's  a  good  idea,"  responded  the  chairman. 
"Now,  are  there  any  more  cases  of  things  we  do  with- 
out learning — do  just  because  we  are  made  in  a  cer- 
tain way?     Miss  Clark?" 

"I  wonder  how  it  is  about  talking.  Is  any  part  of 
the  faculty  of  language  born  in  us?" 

"It  can't  be,  because  people  born  deaf  don't  talk," 
answered  Mr.  Elkin. 

"And  a  child  of  English  parentage  talks  all  French, 
no  English,  if  he's  brought  up  among  French-speak- 
ing people,"  added  Mr.  Tasken  "I  do  think, 
though,"  he  continued,  "that  human  beings  differ 
from  other  animals  in  making  a  lot  of  different  sounds 
— babbling,  so  to  speak — and  this  they  do  instinc- 
tively— that  is,  without  learning.  That  gives, 
I  should  say,  the  materials  out  of  which  imitation  and 
learning  can  fashion  language." 

"You  folks  mustn't  try  to  make  out  that  nothing 
comes  from  learning,"  said  Mr.  Elkin,  with  a  smile. 
"You  have  to  learn  the  shoe  business." 

"If  people  were  born  knowing  how  much  eleven 
times  five  was,  and  how  to  read  and  write,  we'd 
lose  our  positions,  too,"  said  Miss  Atwell  to  Miss 
Clark. 


24  The  Human  Nature  Club 

After  the  general  laugh  was  over,  Arthur  Ralston 

spoke  up: 

"Mr.  Chairman,  if  it's  allowable  to  study  human 
nature  by  comparing  it  to  animal  nature,  I'd  like  to 
mention  a  few  observations.      It's  evident  that  most 
animals  can  do  rather  complicated  and  seemingly  dif- 
ficult things   without    learning— without   any   experi- 
ence.     Last  summer  I  visited  a  man  in  Mitteneaque 
who    raised    poultry,    and    I    saw    a    hundred    chicks 
which  had  been  hatched  out  in  an  incubator.      They 
had  no  one  to  teach  them.      There  was  no  mother-hen 
for  them  to  imitate,  but  they  could  eat  and  drink  and 
run    and    jump    and    preen    themselves    and    scratch. 
They   would   run   and  dodge  when  they  got  a  worm. 
The   young   roosters,    only   a  week   or  so  old,  would 
have    mock    fights.      Strange    as   it    may    seem,    they 
could  all  swim,  too.      The   man   had  noticed  it  in  the 
case  of  one  who  jumped   out  of  a  basket  in  which  he 
was  carrying  it  across  a  bridge,  and  had  tried  others. 
In   fact,  a  ten-days'  old   chick   can   do   a  good  many 
more  things  than  a  ten  days'  old  baby.      Animals  evi- 
dently are  like  us,  in  doing  some  things  without  hav- 
ing to  learn  them." 

"I  was  wondering,  too,  when  mother  spoke  first,  if 
we  didn't  have  some  of  these  instinctive  acts,  as  I  be- 
lieve some  one  called  them,  in  common  with  some 
of  the  lower  animals.  All  of  you  who've  lived  on 
a  farm  know  that  young  lambs  or  calves  will  run  after 
anything  which  starts  away  from  them  slowly,  and 
run  away  from  anything  which  comes  toward  them 
fast.  Now,  haven't  you  many  a  time  seen  a  baby  run 
away  when  you  try  to  catch  him,  with  no  real  reason. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  25 

and  we  all  know  how  they  toddle  after  us  if  we  are 
going  away  from  them.  It  seems  like  a  sort  of  gift 
common  to  human  beings  and  some  animals.  And 
about  the  fooling  with  things  and  grabbing  them  and 
sticking  them  in  the  mouth,  isn't  a  monkey  just  like 
a  baby  in  that?  I  never  thought  of  it  before,  but 
a  monkey  acts  just  about  the  same  way  toward  any 
new  thing  that  a  baby  does.  Whatever  meaning  you 
give  to  the  thing,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  a  fact,  and  one 
worth  thinking  about." 

"I  see,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "that  we're  likely  to 
stir  up  more  questions  than  we  do  answers;  but  I'm 
glad  of  it,  for  if  we  get  our  minds  full  of  questions, 
we'll  be  on  the  lookout  for  facts.  What  is  it,  Miss 
Clark?" 

''I  don't  see  why  if  we  never  learn  these  things, 
we  don't  do  them  all  when  we're  only  a  day  or  so  old. 
But  we  don't." 

-  "I  think  that  points  to  a  very  important  fact,  but 
I  don't  think  it's  any  argument  to  prove  that  we  do 
really  learn  those  things,  "replied  Arthur.  "I  watched 
four  of  that  man's  chicks  for  a  week,  and  they  didn't 
scratch  till  they  were  several  days  old,  yet  I  know 
they  didn't  learn  to  do  it.  When  the  time  came  they 
just  did  it.  And  it  was  so  with  Helen's  walking.  It 
seems  to  me  it  just  is  a  fact  that  when  the  body  or 
brain  develops  to  a  certain  extent  we  do  these  things. 
Some  things,  like  breathing  and  suckling,  we  do  at 
the  very  start.  Some  things,  like  reaching  and  walk- 
ing, come  later.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  habit  of 
collecting  objects,  which  comes  later  still,  comes  to 
children  without  their  learning  it  from   any  one.      It 


26  The  Human  Nature  Club 

/seems  to  me  that  we  just  have  to  grant   that  these 

/unlearned     acts— instinctive    acts,    as    we've    called 

/    them— may  come  at  birth  or  be  delayed  for  a  consid- 

\.  erable  while.      Isn't  that  so?" 

^    All  agreed  with  Arthur,  Mr.  Elkin  remarking  that 

falling    in    love  seemed  to  him  a  fine  example  of    a 

delayed  instinct. 

"Falling  in  love,  at  least  the  first  time,  would  be 
an  unlearned  thing  all  the  same,"  he  retorted  when 
the  company  laughed  at  his  example. 

"If  I  may  have  one  more  word,"  said  Arthur,  "I'd 
like  to  ask  whether  these  inborn  abilities  may  not  die 
out  if  they  aren't  exercised.  Chicks  naturally  follow 
a  hen,  but  if  they  don't  have  any  chance  to  follow 
a  hen  in  the  first  ten  or  twelve  days,  why  then  they 
won't  go  near  one,  much  less  follow  it,  if  you  do  give 
them  the  chance.  The  act  or  instinct,  or  whatever 
you  please  to  call  it,  has  died  out.  Are  ours  that 
same  way,  I  wonder?" 

No  one  seemed  to  have  any  evidence,  and  it  was 
suggested  that  in  the  future  eyes  be  kept  open  for 
that  sort  of  fact. 

"I  am  interested  to  see,"  said  Miss  Clark,  "what 
sort  of  thing  in  the  brain  corresponds  to  these  un- 
learned acts.  How  is  the  connection  between  the 
nerve-strings  made  in  these  cases?" 

"It  wouldn't  have  to  be  made  at  all,  would  it?" 
replied  Mr.  Tasker,  after  a  moment  or  so.  "If  we  do 
these  acts  without  having  to  learn  them,  it  would 
mean  that  our  brains  had  a  lot  of  ready-made  connec- 
tions. They  would  be  like  a  lot  of  permanent  private 
telephone  connections,  or  like   nickel-in-the-slot  ma- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  27 

chines.  The  sight  of  a  small  moving  object  stirs  up 
the  brain  to  cause  the  movement  of  reaching  for  it, 
just  as  the  nickel  makes  the  machine  turn  out 
a  package  of  gum.  If  learning  to  do  a  thing  when 
you  see  or  hear  or  feel  or  think  of  something  means 
that  you  build  up  a  connection  of  some  sort  in  the 
brain,  doesn't  doing  a  thing  without  any  learning 
when  you  see  or  hear  something  mean  that  the  con- 
nection is  already  built  up   for  you,  Miss  Clark?" 

"Yes,  that  seems  right." 

"It  is  now  about  time  for  this  meeting  to  adjourn, 
and  I  therefore  call  for  propositions  as  to  what  facts 
we  shall  look  out  for  during  the  coming  week. 
I  take  it  for  granted  that  we'll  all  bear  in  mind  the 
questions  discussed  to-night  and  try  to  apply  what 
we've  learned.  I  myself  would  suggest  that  we  notice 
any  new  thing  that  we  do  learn,  and  see  how  we 
learn  it.  I  know  that  there  are  a  lot  of  interesting 
questions  about  queer  things  in  human  nature,  and 
I  hope  we  can  later  get  to  the  bottom  of  them,  but 
I  believe  that  we'd  better  see  through  the  simple 
things  first." 

"I  move  that  the  chairman's  suggestion  be  adopted, 

and  that  our  next  topic  be,  'How  did   I  learn  to 

whatever  the  thing  was?'  "  said   Mr.  Tasker. 

The  proposition  was  accepted,  and  the  company 
broke  up. 

NOTES    BY   THE    EDITOR. 

We  inherit  certain  connections  between  nerve-cells  which 
make  us  act  in  certain  circumstances  in  definite  ways,  without 
our  learning  how,  or  thinking  about  the  matter  at  all,  or  know- 
ing what  we  are  going  to  do.     Our  inherited  constitution  makes 


28  The  Human  Nature  Club 

/  us  breathe  and  suckle  and  smile  and  reach  for  things  and  walk 
and  be  afraid  in  the  dark,  just  as  it  makes  us  sleep  and  digest 
food  and  grow.  We  call  such  unlearned  activities,  tnstmcts,  or 
native  reactions.  Such  activities  may  appear  before  birth  or  at 
birth  or  be  delayed  till  after  birth.  They  may  be  transitory 
that  is,  may  stay  for  a  while  and  then  disappear  if  not  exercised 
and  rendered  habitual.  Some  of  them  we  have  m  common 
with  a  great  many  of  the  lower  animals.  Some  of  them  are 
peculiar  to  the  human  race.  On  the  basis  of  these  instinctive 
acts  develop  all  our  later  acquisitions.  ,       ,        ,    .     ,,. 

.       An  interesting  account  of  them   may  be   found   m  Wm. 
\ames's  "  Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology,'  pp.  4S-o3- 


CHAPTER  III 

DIFFERENT   WAYS    OF   LEARNING 

"Mr.  Elkin,"  said  Miss  Atwell,  who  was  acting  as 
chairman,  "what  have  you  learned  this  week,  and  how 
did  you  learn  it?" 

'Well,  Miss  Chairman,  in  order  to  be  sure  to 
have  something  to  report  to-night  I  took  this  chance 
of  learning  something  that  I  should  have  learned  long 
ago — to  ride  a  bicycle!  So  far  as  I  can  recall  the 
somewhat  perturbed  state  of  mind  that  I  was  in  dur- 
ing the  attempts,  it  was  something  like  this.  I'll 
make  use  in  my  description  of  a  record  which  my 
wife  kept  at  the  time.  I  tried  an  hour  each  morning. 
The  first  morning  I  would  sometimes  fall  over  at  the 
start;  sometimes  describe  a  short  curve  and  then 
flop;  sometimes  go  along  with  the  front  wheel  wob- 
bling for  twenty  or  thirty  feet.  I  poked  with  my  feet, 
and  pulled  this  way  and  that  with  my  hands,  without 
much,  if  any,  idea  of  what  I  was  doing.  I  felt  good 
v/hen  I  kept  going;  that  was  about  all.  The  farthest 
I  went  that  morning  was  about  forty  feet.  My  wife 
says  that  I  made  thirty-eight  attempts,  rode  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  all,  fell  over  at  the  start 
nineteen  times,  had  eleven  of  those  meteoric  curved 
dashes,  and  eight  rides — short  and  zigzag  ones,  how- 
ever. This  morning  I  rode  five  miles,  falling  off  only 
four  times,  and  then  with  fair  provocation  in  the 
shape  of  a  stone,  a  rut,  a  lot  of  sand  and  a  terrifying 

29 


30 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


milk-cart.  All  I  can  say  about  the  progress  from  the 
first  attempts  to  my  present  skill  is  that  the  useless 
jerks  and  pulls  of  arms  and  pokes  of  legs  and  bindings 
of  the  body  gradually  died  out,  and  the  right^way  of 
holding  and  pushing  and  sitting  became  the  regular 
thing.  My  wife's  records  of  the  number  of  tumbles 
each    day,    the    longest    trip    made,    etc.,    show   that 

pretty  clearly, 

"I  learned   just 
by  the  try,  try  again 
method,  with  no  ex- 
planations     from 
any  one  and  nobody 
to  watch.     Certain 
acts     which    kept 
me   a  -  going,     and 
so    were     satisfac- 
tory, seemed  just  to 
gradually     become 
the  natural  acts,  whereas  at  first  they  were  only  sel- 
dom   done.      I    didn't    think    out    how    to    do    it,    or 
about  what  my  hands  and  feet  were  doing.  ^  What  I 
thought  of  was  just  of  keeping  a-going.      I've  made 
some   pictures   which   to   me  at  least  represent  what 
happened.      Let  (in  Figure  5)  the  line  A  B  represent 
the  feelings  of  sitting  on  a  bicycle  plus  the  desire  to 
ride.     At  first  these  feelings  lead  to  a  lot  of  acts  or 
movements  represented  by  the  other  lines.      Some  of 
these  make  you  fall  or  go  crooked;  others,  which  I'll 
represent  by  a  double  line,  make  you  keep  going  and 
going  the  way  you  wish.      After  a  lot  of  trials,  these 
acts  get  connected  with  the  feelings  represented  by 


Fig.  5- 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


31 


A 


B 


A — B,  so  that  you  do  just  those.  When  you've  learned 
completely,  your  behavior  is  represented  by  a  figure 
•  like  this  (Figure  6),  where  the  connections  leading  to 
all  the  useless  acts  have  been  obliterated  and  the  con- 
nection between  the  feelings  of  being  on  a  wheel  and 
the  acts  that  keep  you  on  have  been  strengthened. 
Learning  to  ride  a  bicycle  seems  to  be  the  selection 
of  one  set  of  acts 
and  the  connection 
of  them  with  a  cer- 
tain situation,  and 
the  mere  satisfac- 
tion of  success 
seems  to  be  what 
does  the  selecting 
and  connecting." 

"Excuse  me  for 
interrupting,"  said 
Mr.  Henshaw,  "but 

isn't  it  largely  in  that  way  that  we  learn  to  hit  a 
mark  with  a  rifle-bullet  or  to  dive?  We  just  try 
and  try,  and  the  pleasure  we  get  from  successes 
stamps  them  in." 

"I  learned  to  have  a  decent  'touch'  in  playing  the 
piano  pretty  much  in  that  way,  I  think,"  added  Miss 
Fairbanks;  "but  you  go  ahead,  Mr.  Elkin." 

"I  hadn't  anything  more  to  say.  I've  talked  too 
long  already." 

"I  call  on  Miss  Clark  to  speak  next.  You 
haven't  said  much  in  the  meetings  so  far,  Helen." 

"I  shan't  now,  I'm  afraid.  All  I've  learned  that 
was  really  a  thing  by  itself  was  a  new  dumb-bell  drill 


Fig.  6. 


32  The  Human  Nature  Club 

in  the  women's  class  at  the  gymnasium.  I  learnel 
the  movements  just  by  seeing  them  done,  by  imita- 
tion They  were  very  simple,  and  I  didn't  have  t) 
use  the  trial  and  error  sort  of  method  that  Mr.  Elkins 
did  in  learning  to  ride  a  wheel.  I  just  watched  the 
leader,  and  did  as  she  did." 

"Perhaps  I'd  better  insert  my  observation  here, 
too  for  in  my  case  the  learning  was  to  pronounce  tie 
French  an,  on,  ain,  etc.,  and  it  was  a  case  of  imitat- 

ing. 

"Was  it,  really?"  said  Mr.  Tasker.     "It  seems  to 
/me  that  you  combined  Mr.  Elkin's  stamping-in  of  the 
/successful    acts    with    Mis^  Clark's    imitation.      You 
had   the  sound  the  teacher  gave  for  a  guide,  and  yor,,. 
made  a  lot  of  attempts.    When  you  hit  the  right  sound, 
your  memory  used  the  model  to  stamp  it  in,  but  y 
didn't  learn  how  to  make  the  sounds  just  from  hearing 
and  seeing  them  made,  as    Miss    Clark    learned_  tht 
movements.      Isn't  there  a  difference  between  direct 
imitation  and  imitation  where  one  uses  the  trial  and 
error  method  plus  the  help  of  a  model?" 

No  one  objected  to  this  distinction,  and  Mr.  Tasker 
was  called  on  next.  _  ^ 

"I  told  you  not  to  expose  me,"  said  he.  i 
sad  fact  is,  friends,  that  I  haven't  learned  anythin 
this  week,  not  even  my  Sunday-school  lesson;  I 
been  too  busy  getting  a  class  started  in  geometry 
However,  I've  certainly  observed  in  others  methoc 
of  learning  which  differ  from  the  three  mentioned  s 
far  For  example,  I  asked  a  boy  to  get  me  a  tes 
tube  He  said  he  didn't  know  where  they  wen 
I  said-  'You  go  downstairs  to  room  D,  and  look  in  tl 


The  Human  Nature  Club  ;^;^ 

.  rst  case  on  your  right  side  as  you  go  in,  in  the  third 
drawer  from  the  bottom.'  He  succeeded  all  right, 
showing  that  he  had  learned  where  to  find  the  test- 
tube  just  from  my  explanation.  He  didn't  have  to 
make  a  lot  of  efforts,  one  of  which  gradually  became 
assured,  as  Mr.  Elkin  did.  If  I'd  sent  him  ten  times 
afterward  he  would  have  done  just  the  same.  He 
learned  how  to  find  the  thing,  once  for  all,  by  seeing 
through  the  situation.  He  didn't  have  any  one  to 
imitate.  He  learned  by  getting  the  idea  of  what  to 
do  and  remembering  it.  So  I  should  say  we  had 
.  three  main  ways  so  far.  Some  things  we  learn  hyf\ 
y^trial  and  occasional  success,  which  gradually  becomes  ':  \ 
assured;  some  things  l^j<imitation,  the  model  being 
'='ither  directly  influential  or  working  to  direct  our 
.rials;  some  things  we  learn  by  getting^  ideas — /.  e.,\ 
from  explanations." 

"I  fancy  my  report  is  like  Mr.  Tasker's,  and  I'd 
better  put  it  in  now,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw.  "I  learned 
how  to  keep  off  book  agents  this  week.  A  friend  told 
me  that  during  three  weeks  while  his  children  were 
sick  and  a  'diphtheria'  sign  was  on  the  door,  he  was 
bothered  by  no  tramps  or  book  agents.  I'm  going 
,o  try  it.  My  friends  will  learn  by  'explanation'  that 
the  sign  does  not  mean  real  diphtheria,  while  the 
Dook  agents  will  have  to  depend  on  'trial  and  occa- 
sional success,'  and  the  result  should  be  very  satisfac- 
tory. But  speaking  seriously,  I  think  we  ought  to 
notice  that  learning  by  having  ideas  of  things  covers 
a  tremendous  lot  of  cases.  We  learn  arithmetic  and 
geography;  how  to  add  and  subtract  and  go  to  places 
and  to  avoid   poisons;  we  learn  the   news;  we  learn 


r 
t 


04  The  Human  Nature  Club 

how  to  keep  books;  how  to  play  chess  and  such 
games — in  fact,  a  host  of  things  by  just  getting  cer- 
tain ideas  of  things  and  acts.  The  model  in  imita- 
tion may  just  give  us  the  idea  of  what  to  do  or  of  how 
to  do  it.  A  person  can  'explain'  by  an  act  as  well  as 
by  words,  and  pure  imitation  would  occur  only  in 
cases  where  the  person  did  the  thing  without  an  idea 
of  it  by  the  mere  force  of  witnessing  the  act  in 
another — in  cases,  for  instance,  where  a  child  gets  St. 
Vitus'  dance  from  being  with  a  child  who  has  it.  But 
I'm  keeping  Mrs.  Elkin  and  Mrs.  Ralston  from  telling 
their  experiences." 

"Mine  was  of  the  'idea'  sort.  Mr.  Elkin  wanted 
me  to  be  able  to  open  his  safe,  so  he  wrote  out  the 
combination,  and  I  learned  it  because  I  didn't  want 
to  bother  about  saving  the  paper. " 

"Mine  was  of  the  'idea'  sort  of  learning,  too.  In 
connection  with  plans  for  an  entertainment  I  had  to 
know  how  much  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  times 
twelve  and  one-half  cents  was.  I  started  to  multiply 
it  out,  when  Laura  Keswick,  who  was  with  me,  said 
right  off,  'It's  sixteen  dollars.'  I  asked  her  how  she 
got  it  so  quickly,  and  she  said,  'Why,  that's  easy. 
Twelve  and  a  half  is  one-eighth  of  one  hundred,  so 
you  just  divide  your  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  by 
eight.'  I  had  to  confess  th-at  I'd  lived  fifty-three 
years  without  having  that  idea  of  doing  such  an 
example  in  that  easy  way." 

"Arthur,  y^u  are  the  only  one  left  to  report." 

"The  only  new  thing  that  I've  learned  how  to  do 
is  to  be  able  to  tell  the  prices  of  eighty-two  articles 
that  our  firm  sells,  without  looking  the  matter  up.     It 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


3S 


was,  of  course,  just  a  very  simple  case  of  getting 
ideas,  of  remembering  each  price  in  connection  with 
the  name  of  the  article.  When  I  receive  an  order  for 
any  one  of  them  now.  the  idea  of  the  price  comes  up 
in  my  mind,  so  that  I  make  out  the  bill  correctly. 
But  I'd  like  to  call  the  club's  attention  to  some  facts 
I've  been  thinking  of  while  listening  to  the  others 
to-night.  Many  things  that  we  learn  to  do  involve 
a  mixture  of  the  methods  we've  observed.  When,  for 
instance,  we  learn  to  play  croquet,  you  start  with 
a  number  of  ideas  that  you  get  from  explanation  or 
observation,  but  you  learn  to  aim  correctly  and  to  hit 
just  so  hard  in  any  particular  shot,  from  trial  and 
gradual  improvement.  Moreover,  I  think  you  often 
unconsciously  imitate  the  actions  of  other  players. 
Learning  to  sing,  also,  is  partly  due  to  ideas,  partly 
to  gradually  stamping  in  the  right  acts  and  abandon- 
ing the  wrong  ones,  partly  to  merely  imitating  your 
teacher  unconsciously. 

My  second  point  is  that  dogs  and  cats  learn  only 
by  the  gradual  trial  and  success  way.  At  least, 
I  remember  reading  an  article  in  the  Popular  Science 
Monthly  which  seemed  to  mean  that.  If  you'll  wait 
a  minute,  I'll  get  it  and  read  part  of  it  to  you. 

"  'So  far  we  have  seen  that  when  put  in  situations 
calculated  to  call  forth  any  thinking  powers  which 
they  possess,  the  animals'  conduct  still  shows  no 
signs  of  anything  beyond  the  accidental  formation  of 
an  association  between  the  sight  of  the  interior  of  the 
box  and  the  impulse  to  a  certain  act,  and  the  subse- 
quent complete  establishment  of  this  association 
because  of  the  power  of  pleasure  to  stamp  in  any  pro- 


36  The  Human  Nature  Club 

cess  which  leads  to  it.  We  have  also  seen  that  sam- 
ples of  the  acts  which  have  been  supposed  by  advo- 
cates of  the  reason  theory  to  require  reasoning  for 
their  accommplishment  turn  out  to  be  readily  accom- 
plished by  the  accidental  success  of  instinctive 
impulses.  The  decision  that  animals  do  not  possess 
the  higher  mental  processes  is  reinforced  by  several 
other  lines  of  experiment  —  for  example,  by  some 
experiments  on  imitation.'* 

"Apparently  the  chief  difference  between  human 
nature  and  dog  or  cat  nature  is  that  we  have  the  idea 
method  of  learning.  If  so,  we  ought  to  study  it  more 
carefully." 

"Isn't  the  idea  method  of  learning,  as  we've  called 
it,  a  pretty  big  affair?  We've  noticed  rather  simple 
cases,  but  when  you  come  to  think  of  it,  almost  all  of 
our  school  education,  business  training,  original  dis- 
coveries, scientific  progress — in  fact,  almost  all  of 
civilization,  which,  I  take  it,  means  learning  how  to  do 
a  lot  of  things  that  savage  peoples  don't  know  how  to 
do,  is  dependent  on  just  getting  certain  ideas.  We 
ought  to  notice  just  how  we  get  these  ideas.  Why 
not  observe  for  next  time  what  happens  when  one 
acquires  an  idea,  what  causes  it,  etc??" 

"Good  for  you,  Henshaw,"  replied  Arthur;  "but 
I'm  doubtful  about  our  getting  the  thing  settled  by 
our  next  meeting.  I  fancy  we  have  a  year's  work 
before  us  if  we're  to  observe  everything  possible 
about  the  way  we  learn  to  do  things  by  thinking. 
We'll  have  to  see  how  we  remember  and  infer  and 
guess  and  prove,  and  why  we  make  mistakes  and  why 

»  Popular  Science  Monthly,  .-Xugiist,  1899. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  37 

we  fail  to  remember  and  infer,  etc.  It  will  be  a  fine 
thing  to  watch,  though,  especially  for  you  teachers. 
But  it's  a  complicated  affair,  simple  as  it  looks. 
Taking  Mrs.  Ralston's  instance,  let  us  suppose  that 
some  one  reads,  'In  multiplying  by  certain  numbers — 
e.  g.,  i2}4,  16^,  ssYs — it  is  often  convenient  to  add 
two  ciphers  and  divide  by  8,  6,  3,  etc. '  In  order  that 
this  idea  shall  really  bring  about  the  proper  results  in 
his  future  conduct,  he*  Has  to  see  the  words  or  hear 
them,  and  we'll  have  to  see  how  our  senses  work.  He 
has  to  remember  them,  so  we'll  have  to  study  what  sort 
of  things  we  remember  best,  how  we  remember  at  all, 
etc.  He  has  to  understand  the  meaning  of  each  word 
and  follow  the  points,  and  we'll  have  to  observe  our 
ways  of  comprehending  things,  see  what  they  depend 
on,  etc.  He  has  to  apply  the  thing  to  a  particular 
case.  It's  wonderful  how  the  common  things  that 
we  take  for  granted  are  full  of  questions  the  minute 
you  start  in  looking  to  see  just  what  happens  and 
why.  There  ought  to  be  some  books  that  tell  about 
these  things.  Don't  they  teach  about  your  senses 
and  memory  and  that  sort  of  thing  in  college,  Tasker?" 
"Yes,  they  try  to.  The  science  of  psychology  is 
supposed  to  discuss  just  such  things,  but  judging 
from  the  books  I  read  in  college,  I  should  say  that 
it  would  perhaps  be  better,  and  would  surely  be  much 
more  fun,  for  us  to  keep  on  making  our  own  observa- 
tions and  trying  to  think  out  what  they  mean,  rather 
than  to  read  any  such  books,  at  least  for  the  pres- 
ent. My  chum  of  sophomore  year  is  teaching  psychol- 
ogy in  a  college  now,  and  if  we  get  over  our  depth  I 
can  write  and  ask   him  to   tell  us  where  to  find  out 


SiAi£i^\ 


\yu\^ 


,1a.  ~.t^      'W     ^' 


o8  The  Human  Nature  Club 

about  the  question  in  books.  Besides,  there's  more  in 
human  nature  than  there  is  in  the  psychology  books, 
I  fancy.  So  let's  keep  on  noticing  human  folks' 
behavior  and  discussing  it,  just  as  we  have  so  far." 

"What  shall  be  our  plan  for  the  next  meeting, 
then?"  said  Miss  Atwell.  "Shall  we  just  keep  our 
eyes  open  in  general,  or  shall  we  observe  ourselves 
and    other    people    with    some    definite     question   in 

mind?" 

"Hadn't  we  better  do  both,  but  plan  to  talk  about 
only  some  one  question?  My  wife  and  I  find  some 
bit  of  human  nature  to  talk  over  almost  every  day 
now  that  we've  started  to  keep  a  lookout,  and  we're 
saving  all  our  observations  until  the  club  gets  around 
to  some  topic  that  they  bear  on." 

"I  think  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elkin  have  the  right  idea, 
and  I  suggest  that  we  begin  the  study  of  the  'idea' 
way  of  learning  by  trying  to  see  what  part  our  senses 
play  in  the  matter,  how  many  of  the  differences  in 
human  nature  are  due  to  differences  in  hearing,  see- 
ing, feeling,  etc." 

NOTES    BY   THE   EDITOR. 

The  method  of  learning  by  the  selection  of  successes  from 
/  among  a  lot  of  acts  is  the  most  fundamental  method  of  learning, 
and  is  common  to  many  animals  besides  man.  The  human 
infant  learns  in  that  way  before  he  begins  to  imitate  at  all  or  to 
have  ideas  about  things.  We  may  take  Mr.  Elkin's  drawings 
as  representing  in  a  rough  way  what  does  happen  in  the  brain. 
The  gradual  increase  in  success  means  a  gradual  strengthen- 
ing of  one  set  of  nerve-connections,  and  a  gradual  weakening 
of  others.  This  method  of  learning  may  be  called  the  method  of 
\  trial  and  error,  or  of  trial  and  success,  or  (from  its  importance 
in  animal  life),  the  animal  method  of  learning. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  39 

The  cause  of  such  strengthening  and  weakening  is  the 
resulting  pleasure  in  one  case  and  discomfort  in  the  others. 

"Any  act  which  is  done  in  a  certain  situation  and  brings 
pleasure  tends  to  be  associated  with  that  situation,  and  to  be 
done  when  one  is  in  that  situation  again.  Any  act  which  is 
done  in  a  certain  situation  and  brings  discomfort  tends  to  be 
dissociated  from  that  situation  and  not  to  be  done  again." 

Things  which  we  would  learn  by  the  idea  method,  animals 
learn  by  this  "trial  and  success"  method.  For  instance,  if  we 
make  a  pen,  as  shown  in  Fig.  A,  and  put  a  chick,  say  six  days 
old,  in  at  ^,  it  is  confronted  by 
a  situation  which  is,  briefly,  "  the 
sense-impression  or  feeling  of 
the  confining  surfaces,  an  un- 
comfortable feeling  due  to  the 
absence  of  other  chicks  and  of 
food,  and  perhaps  the  sense- 
impressions  of  the  chirping  of 
the  chicks  outside."  It  reacts 
to  this  situation  by  running 
around,  making  loud  sounds  and  Fig.  a. 

jumping  at  the  walls.     When 

it  jumps  at  the  walls,  it  has  uncomfortable  feelings  of  effort; 
when  it  runs  to  B,  or  C,  or  D,  it  has  a  continuation  of  the  feel- 
ings of  the  situation  just  described;  when  it  runs  to  E,  it  gets 
out,  feels,  the  pleasure  of  being  with  the  other  chicks,  of  the 
taste  of  food,  of  being  in  its  usual  habitat.  If  from  time  to  time 
you  put  it  in  again,  you  find  that  it  jumps  and  runs  to  B,  C,  and 
D  less  and  less  often,  until  finally  its  only  act  is  to  run  to  D,  E, 
and  out.  It  has,  to  use  technical  psychological  terms,  formed 
an  association  between  the  sense-impression  or  situation  due  to 
its  presence  at  A  and  the  act  of  going  to  E.  In  common  lan- 
guage it  has  learned  \.o  go  to  £"when  put  at  A — has  learned  the 
way  out.  The  decrease  in  the  useless  runnings  and  jumping 
and  standing  still  finds  a  representative  in  the  decreasing 
amount  of  time  taken  by  the  chick  to  escape.  The  two  chicks 
that  formed  this  particular  association,  for  example,  averaged 
one  about  three  and  the  other  about  four  minutes  for  their  first 


\ 


/ 


40  The  Human  Nature  Club 

'five  trials,  but  came  finally  to  escape  invariably  within  five  or 
six  seconds. 

It  will  be  well  now  to  examine  a  more  ambitious  perform- 
ance than  the  mere  discovery  of  the  proper  path  by  a  chick.  If 
we  take  a  box  twenty  by  fifteen  by  twelve  inches,  replace  its 
cover  and  front  side  by  bars  an  inch  apart,  and  make  in  this 
front  side  a  door  arranged  so  as  to  fall  open  when  a  wooden 
button  inside  is  turned  from  a  vertical  to  a  horizontal  position, 
we  shall  have  means  to  observe  such.     A  kitten,  three  to  six 
months  old,  if  put  in  this  box  when  hungry,  a  bit  of  fish  being 
left   outside,  reacts  as    follows  :i  It   tries   to   squeeze   through 
between  the  bars,  claws  at  the  bars  and  at  loose  things  in  and 
out  of  the  box,  reaches  its  paws  out  between  the  bars  and  bites 
at   its   confining  walls.     Some  one  of   all   these   promiscuous 
clawings,  squeezlngs,  and  bitings  turns  round  the  wooden  but- 
ton, and  the  kitten  gains  freedom  and  food.     By  repeating  the 
experience  again  and  again,  the  animal  gradually  comes  to 
omit  all  the  useless  clawings,  etc.,  and  to  manifest  only  the 
particular  impulse  (e.g.,  to  claw  hard  at  the  top  of  the  button 
with  the  paw,  or  to  push  against  one  side  of  it  with  the  nose) 
which  has  resulted  successfully.     It   turns  the  button  round 
without  delay  whenever  put  in  the  box.    It  has  formed  an  asso- 
ciation between  the  situation  "confinement  in  a  box  of  a  certain 
appearance"  and  the  impulse  to  the  act  of  clawing  at  a  certain 
part  of  that  box  in  a  certain  definite  way.    Popularly  speaking, 
it  has  learned  to  open  a  door  by  turning  a  button.     To  the 
uninitiated  observer  the  behavior  of  the  six  kittens  that  thus 
freed  themselves  from  such  a  box  would  seem  wonderful  and 
quite  unlike  their  ordinary  accomplishments  of  finding  their 
way  to  their  food,  beds,  etc.,  but  the  reader  will  realize  that  the 
activity  is  of  just  the  same  sort  as  that  displayed  by  the  chick 
in  the  pen.     A  certain  situation  arouses  by  virtue  of  accident 
or,  more  often,  instinctive  equipment,  certain  impulses  and  cor- 
responding acts.     One  of  these  happens  to  be  an  act  appro- 
priate to  secure  freedom.     It  is  stamped  in  in  connection  with 
that  situation.  (Here  the  act  is  "clawing  at  a  certain  spot" 

\  'Confinement  alone,  apart  Irom  hunger,  causes  similar  reactions,  though 

not  so  pronounced, 


The  Human  Nature  Club  41 

instead  of  " running  to  E"  and  is  selected  from  a  far  greater 
number  of  useless  acts.* 

Concerning  learning  by  imitation  I  have  nothing  to  add  to 
the  club's  observations.  We  do  learn  by  imitation  either 
directly  or  by  a  combination  with  the  method  just  described. 

As  Mr.  Henshaw  says,  the  bulk  of  human  activities  are 
directed  by  ideas  of  one  sort  or  another.  This  method  of  learn- 
ing, the  animals,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  monkeys, 
■bardly  possess.     It  is  peculiarly  human. 

'Edward  Thorndike,  Woods  Holl  Biological  Lectures,  1899. 


CHAPTER  IV 

OUR   SENSES 

Mr.  Henshaw  opened  the  fourth  meeting  of  the 
Human  Nature  Club  by  saying:  "Arthur  was  telling 
me  Wednesday  of  some  general  notions  of  his  about 
the  best  way  to  look  at  human  nature,  and  I  took  the 
liberty  as  prospective  chairman  of  this  meeting  of 
asking  him  to  prepare  a  sort  of  scheme  showing  his 
ideas.  If  he  will  tell  us  his  view  now,  we  can  criti- 
cise it  to  our  heart's  content,  and  then  go  on  to  our 
own  observations." 

"Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  tried  to  settle  a  few  points 
in  my  own  mind,  with  the  help  of  a  book  or  two  that 
I    found    in    the    Springfield    Library.^      The    life    of 
a  human  being  seems  to  be  a  series  of  acts.     We  are 
in  circumstances   or  surroundings  or  situations  that 
change,   and  we  act— or,  to  use  a  more  exact  word, 
react— to  these  situations  by  movements  of  our  body 
or  limbs,  or  of  some  part  of  us.      All  that  we  really 
do  to   the  world  about  us  and  to  other  people  is  to 
make   some   movement.      Giving  a  million  dollars  to 
a  hospital  is  really  just  making  certain   movements 
with    your    fingers,    resulting    in    your    signature    on 
a  check.     And   the  only  importance  of  our  thoughts 
and  feelings  and  education  and  characters  is  that  they 
make  us  do  certain  things  in   certain  circumstances, 
make  us  react  in  certain  ways  to  certain  situations. 
'The  book  was  James's  "  Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology." 

42 


The  Human  Nature  Club  43 

I    mean    by    a    'situation'    just    tlie    sights,    sounds,  \ 
tastes,  etc.,  which  you  feel  at  the  time.      Give  me  any 
fact  of   human   life   that  you   please,    and   it  can  be 
expressed  as  a  reaction  to  a  situation.      Give  me  any- 
thing in  human  nature,  and  its  importance  will  con-/ 
sist  in  its  influence  on  our  movements." 

"Then  you  would  say  that  knowing  arithmetic  is 
important  because  it  leads  us  when  we  hear,  'How 
much  are  nine  times  eighteen?'  to  move  our  throat 
muscles  so  that  we  say,  'One  hundred  and  sixty-two,' 
or  to  make  with  our  fingers  the  movements  producing 
162  or  one  hundred  and  sixty-two.  You  would  say 
that  knowing  the  alphabet  really  means  the  tendency 
to  react  to  the  request,  'Give  the  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet,' by  saying  or  writing  'a,  b,  c,'  etc." 

"Yes;  that's  it.  And  the  difference  between  any 
two  people  will  be  really  that  they  react  differently 
to  the  same  situations.  For  instance,  the  difference 
between  a  thief  and  an  honest  man  is  that  one  reacts 
by  taking  things  when  the  other  would  react  by  leav- 
ing them  alone.  The  difference  between  Republicans 
and  Democrats  is  that  one  class  take  a  ballot  which 
the  other  class  refuse,  go  to  a  lot  of  speeches,  read 
a  sort  of  papers  which  the  other  class  would  avoid, 
move  their  hands  together  in  clapping  at  a  sentence 
which  the  other  class  would  hiss,  etc.  For  practical 
purposes,  living  equals  reacting  to  multitudinous  situ- 
ations; by  a  man's  character  or  nature  we  mean  his 
ways  of  reacting." 

"I  don't  quite  see  that  that  is  universally  true. 
Don't  we  have  lots  of  thoughts  and  impulses  that 
make  up  a  part  of  our  lives,  but  yet  exert  no  influ- 


44  The  Human  Nature  Club 

ence  on  our  actions?  For  instance,  don't  mothers 
have  love  for  their  children  that  ,they  don't  show? 
May  not  a  boy  do  just  the  same  things  in  school  as 
another  boy,  and  yet  be  of  a  different  character? 
I  always  thought  human  nature  — character  — was 
something  in  us  which  might  be  there  and  yet  not 
express  itself  in  acts."  _ 

"Haven't  you  neglected  my   words  for  pracucaL 
purposes,   Miss    Clark?     If    the    mother's   love    didn't 
result  in  any  act,  if  it  never  led  her  to  do  anything, 
no  one  except  herself  would  be  any  different  because 
of  it      No  one  but  herself  could   ever  know  that  it 
existed      And   so   of   any  increase  or  decrease  in  its 
amount.     I'll  agree  that  there  is  room  for  difference 
of  opinion,  but  I  think  that  if  we  knew  all  a  person's 
reactions  to  different  situations,  we  should  know  the 
person's  real  nature.     Your  boy  may  perhaps  do  just 
the  same  things  in  school,  but  if  he's  really  of  a  dif- 
ferent  character,    I'm   sure  that  out  of   school,    and 
'     later  on  in  school,  he  will  show  the  difference  in  his 
actions.     I  don't  think  we  have  a  right  to  imagine 
any  sort  of  thing  which  mysteriously  exists  in  us,  and 
call    it    character.      All  we  can  know  about  it  is  its 
results  on  conduct,  and  these  are  just  that  the  person 
reacts  in  certain  ways  to  certain  situations." 

"It  is  fair  to  say  in  Arthur's  defense  that  all  the 
human  nature  facts  we've  discussed  so  far  are  facts 
describable  by  his  phrase.  Listen,  for  instance,  to 
this  Our  habits  are  just  cases  of  similar  reactions 
to  the  same  situation  recurring  a  number  of  times. 
We've  learned  also  that  we  could  react  to  a  situation 
successfully  without  knowing  much  about  W\^  situation; 


The  Human  Nature  Club  45 

that  we  can  make  certain  reactions  without  learning 
how;  that  in  other  cases  we  learn  how  to  react  prop- 
erly by  trial  and  success,  by  imitation,  and  by  getting 
an  idea  of  the  reaction  desired.  I've  used  his  words, 
you  see,  to  describe  the  facts  we've  been  studying, 
and  they  seem  to  fit.  Don't  those  sentences  sound 
clear  and  true?  I  suggest  that  we  provisionally 
accept  Arthur's  way  of  describing  human  life  until 
we  find  some  fact  which  conflicts  with  it.  Can  you 
just  summarize  it,  Arthur,  and  show  how  it  may  help 
us  in  discussing  the  use  of  our  senses?" 

"I  should  repeat  that  human  life  consisted  of 
a  multitude  of  reactions  to  situations.  By  a  situation 
we  mean  what  is  around  us,  what  happens  to  us;  by 
a  reaction,  what  we  do,  what  movements  we  make. 
Our  thoughts  and  feelings  are  an  important  part  of 
our  nature,  for  they  have  a  share  in  deciding  what 
reactions  we  will  make.  For  instance,  two  men  are 
walking  down  the  street,  one  feeling  hungry,  the  other 
not.  The  feeling  will  make  one  react  to  a  restaurant 
by  going  in,  while  the  other  passes  by.  Our  senses, 
in  particular,  make  an  enormous  difference  in  the  way 
we  react,  for  if  we  don't  see  or  hear  or  feel  or  taste 
or  smell  a  thing,  we  won't  react  to  it  at  all.  Thus, 
a  deaf  man  who  is  run  over  by  a  train  is  killed  be- 
cause he  failed  to  react  by  getting  off  the  track,  the 
situation  being  'train  coming.'  His  failure  was  due 
to  his  failure  to  'sense'  the  situation.  In  order  to 
react  properly  to  any  situation,  we  have  to  feel  it. 
Our  sensations  serve  as  the  starting-point.  If  we 
didn't  have  eyes,  ears,  skin,  etc.,  which  were  influ- 
enced by  the  outside  world,  by  the  situations  in  which 


46  The  Human  Nature  Club 

we  are,  we  should  be  unable  to  adapt  our  actions  to 
circumstances  at  all.  As  to  learning  by  getting 
ideas,  we  couldn't  learn,  because  no  one  would  have 
any  means  of  communicating  an  idea  to  us." 

"I  think  this  general  outline  will  help  us  in  describ- 
ing our  observations,"  said  the  chairman.  "But 
first,    are   there   any   remarks   concerning  what  we've 

said  so  far?" 

"I  think,  perhaps,    my  observation   ought  to  come 
first,"  said   Miss   Fairbanks,  "because  if  we  all  agree 
that  we  can  adapt  our  conduct  to  the  outside  world 
in  so  far  as  we  have  sensations,  it  seems  worth  while 
to    see    how    far    our    sensations    do  parallel  outside 
events,  and  how  far   people  differ.      I  don't  mean  dif- 
ferences due  to  the   absence  of  a  sense  entirely,  as  is 
the   case   with   people   blind   or   deaf   or   without   the 
'sense  of  smell,  but  differences  in  the  range  of  a  single 
sense.      Now  I've  noticed  that  old  people  cannot,  as 
a   general   thing,    hear   some   very   high   notes  which 
young  people  can.      I  remember,  too,  that  one  of  my 
teachers  at  the  conservatory  told  me  that  individuals 
varied  in  the  range  of  tones  they  could  hear.      He  said 
that  the  majority  of  people  could  not  hear  any  tone 
much  over  six  octaves  above  middle  C,  but  that  some 
individuals  could  hear  tones  an  octave  or  more  higher; 
that    is,   the    situation  'air  vibrating    forty    thousand 
times  per  second'  would  be  felt  and  so  reacted  to  by 
some  and  not  by  others." 

"There's  another  kind  of  failure  to  get  sensations, 
apart  from  general  failure  in  a  sense,"  said  the  chair- 
man. "About  two  years  ago  I  went  to  see  my  friend 
Arbuthnot,    an   army   surgeon.     When  I  reached   his 


The  Human  Nature  Club  47 

office  I  found  him  sitting  by  a  table  on  whicii  were 
a  lot  of  different  colored  skeins  of  yarn,  eight  or  ten 
shades  of  each  color  and  of  gray. 

"  'Are  you  mending  socks  or  knitting  an  afghan?' 
said  I. 

"  'Wait  and  you'll  see,'  said  he,  and  rang  a  bell. 
In  came  a  recruit.  (The  surgeon  was  stationed  at  an 
enlisting  station.)  'Pick  out  all  the  colors  that  are 
shades  of  that  one,'  said  the  surgeon  to  him,  pointing 
to  a  green  skein.  The  man  passed  this  and  other 
tests  successfully,  and  was  sent  on.  'We  test  them 
for  color-blindness,'  said  my  friend.  'About  four 
men  in  a  hundred  can't  tell  some  shades  of  red  and 
green.  They  don't  see  reds  and  greens  as  we  do. 
Now,  in  the  case  of  a  soldier  reporting  signals,  or  an 
engineer  running  his  train  in  accordance  with  differ- 
ent colored  lights,  such  an  inability  might  make 
a  tremendous  difference.  If  an  engineer  failed  to  see 
the  redness  in  a  light  and  reacted  as  if  it  were  just  an 
ordinary    lantern,    he    might    wreck    a    whole    train.' 

"Arbuthnot  told  me  that  all  engineers  on  the  big 
roads  were  tested  for  color-blindness  nowadays.  It's 
odd,  but  only  very,  very  rarely  is  a  woman  color- 
blind." 

"I  used  to  know  a  young  man  that  must  be  that 
way,"  said  Miss  Clark.  "He  was  terribly  slow  at 
finding  wild  strawberries  in  the  grass,  and  never 
could  see  a  tree  that  had  turned  color  early  in  the  fall 
until  you  pointed  right  at  it;  and  I  remember  that 
he'd  call  dresses  brown  when  there  was  a  lot  of  color 
in  them.  I  never  put  the  three  things  together 
before,  but  I  suppose  he  must  have  been  at  least  partly 


48  The  Human  Nature  Club 

color-blind.      It's   too   bad   you   didn't   see  a  case  at 
the  surgeon's  office." 

"But  I  did.      Shall  I  take  the  time  to  tell  you  about 

it?" 

"Yes!    Yes!" 

"Well,  I  had  to  wait  over  an  hour,  until  Arbuth- 
not  finished  his  office  work,  and  during  that  time 
twelve  men  were  tested.  Eleven  were  all  right,  but 
one  of  them,  though  he  got  the  bright  shades  of 
green  all  right,  was  very  slow  in  finding  the  others, 
and  didn't  get  them  all.  And  he  wasn't  sure  of  some 
that  he  did  pick  out — at  least,  he'd  hesitate.  He 
would  also  pick  out  grays  which  had  no  green  in  them 
at  all.  That's  quite  enough  about  color-blindness, 
I'm  sure,  but  let's  keep  our  eyes  open  for  some  one 
who  is  color-blind,  and   then  we  can  try  the  tests  on 

him." 

There   was   a   minute's   silence,   broken  finally  by 

Miss  Atwell. 

"It  strikes  me  that  the  facts  mentioned  so  far 
show  one  general  truth  clearly — namely,  that  a  per- 
son's senses  only  partially  reveal  the  world  to  him, 
that  the  situation  as  he  feels  it  is  only  a  part  of  the 
real  situation  he  is  in.  The  color-blind  person  may 
be  in  the  presence  of  green  things,  but  he  doesn't  see 
the  greenness.  The  old  person  may  be  in  the  pres- 
ence of  air-vibrations  making  high  tones,  but  he 
doesn't  hear  them.  Persons  lacking  a  whole  sense 
miss  one  whole  aspect  of  the  world.  And  even  those 
of  us  who  have  all  our  senses  in  perfect  order,  still  do 
not  feel  all  the  facts  of  the  world  about  us.  For 
instance,    we   here   would  all  feel  the    same    whether 


The  Human  Nature  Club  49 

there  was  an  electric  current  passmg  through  those 
telephone  wires  or  not.  Tnat  cnange  in  the  outside 
world  about  us — /.  ^.,  the  situation  we  are  in — would 
make  no  difference  in  our  sensations.  All  sorts  of 
things  may  be  happening  around  us  that  our  few 
senses  don't  take  account  of." 

"By  the  way,"  interrupted  Miss  Clark,  "I  know 
of  a  man  who  can  by  the  sense  of  smell  tell  which  of 
his  friends  are  in  a  room.  You  blindfold  him  and 
bring  him  into  a  room  where  there  are  three  or  four 
people  of  his  acquaintance,  and  he  rarely  makes 
a  mistake.  I  suppose  he'd  think  we  were  smell-blind, 
so  to  speak." 

"I  was  just  going  to  say,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks, 
"that  I  believed  there  was  something  more  to  be  said 
than  that  people  differed  in  the  range  of  sensations 
or  in  the  lack  of  one  sense  or  a  part  of  one.  I  think 
they  differ  also  in  delicacy.  In  fact,  I  should  think 
your  friend  differed  from  us  in  delicacy  rather  than  in 
range.  I've  tried  all  of  my  pupils  with  a  monochord 
at  their  first  lesson  by  sounding  a  certain  note  and 
asking  them  to  sound  the  same  note.  Some  get  very 
near  it,  within  a  tenth  of  a  tone,  while  others  are  half 
a  tone  or  more  off." 

"I  remember  a  case  where  ability  to  feel  small 
differences — delicacy  of  discrimination,  I  suppose  we 
'  *  might  call  it — made  a  big  difference  in  a  man's  reac- 
tion to  a  situation.  I  was  in  the  office  of  a  big  tea 
importer  at  New  York.  'I'll  show  you  an  easy  way 
for  a  man  to  make  ten  dollars, '  said  he.  'Here  are 
two  samples  of  tea.  I  am  offered  both  at  the  same 
price.      Tell  me  which  to  take,'  and  he  put  a  pinch  of 


^O  The  Human  Nature  Club 

each  in  a  cup  and  added  boiling  water.  I  tasted  both, 
and  for  my  life  couldn't  see  a  bit  of  difference.  'No 
wonder  they  give  you  your  choice!'  I  said;  'the  tea 
is  just  the  same.'  'Maybe  it  is,'  said  he,  and  rang 
a  bell.      The  office  boy  appeared.      'Call   Hopkins.' 

"When  Hopkins  entered  my  friend  said,  'How 
about  these  teas  here,  both  offered  at  forty-two?' 
Hopkins  tasted  each  carefully,  and  then  replied,  'This 
one  is  worth  at  least  two  cents  more  than  the  other.' 
He  had  reacted  to  a  difference  in  the  tastes  that 
I  could  not  feel  at  all,  and  had  saved  his  employer 
some  sixteen  hundred  dollars.  He  was  making  his 
living  out  of  his  ability  to  discriminate  delicately." 

"Why  not  try  our  own  abilities,"  said  Arthur. 
"I  think  I  can  see  a  handy  way." 

"All  right."  "That's  a  good  idea."  "Go  ahead," 
came  from  the  company. 

Arthur  left  the  room,  to  return  in  a  few  minutes 
with  a  lot  of  sheets  of  paper,  each  with  a  line  drawn 
on  it,  and  a  number  of  pencils.  These  he  distributed. 
"Attention,  every  one!"  he  said.  "You  are  to  draw 
on  the  second  sheet  I  gave  you,  below  this  line,  a  line 
of  exactly  the  same  length  as  the  sample,  but  you 
mustn't  measure." 

Every  one  did  this.  Meanwhile,  Arthur  was  pre- 
paring more  sheets.  These  he  gave  out,  and  they 
repeated  the  experiment  under  his  direction,  each  one 
doing  it  ten  times. 

"What  made  you  have  us  do  it  so  many  times?" 
asked  his  mother,  "and  what's  this  for,  anyway?" 

"I'll  show  you  in  a  minute.  First,  every  one 
measure  with  these  rulers,"   taking  from  a  drawer 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


51 


a  box  of  rulers  which  Mr.  Tasker  had  bought  for  the 
high  school.  "The  line  you  were  trying  to  equal  was 
in  every  case  ten  centimeters  long.  Make  a  note  of 
how  many  millimeters  wrong  you  were — e.  g.,  if  in 
a  trial  your  line  was  three  millimeters  too  long,  call 
it +3;  if  three  millimeters  too  short,  — 3."  Every 
one  did  so. 

"Let  me  see  yours,  Tasker,  and  shove  over  Helen's 
blackboard,  will  you.  Let  me  have  yours,  too, 
mother." 

He  then  put  on  the  board  Mr.  Tasker's  record  and 
Mrs.  Ralston's,  as  follows: 


Average  " 


Mr.  Tasker. 

M 

rs.  Ralston. 

Amount  of  Error. 

Amount  of  Error 

+  3  millimeters 

+  6 

millimeters 

+  4 

+  7 

+  4 

+  8 

+  1 

+  4 

+  4 

+  9 

+  1 

+  4 

+  5 

+  8 

0           " 

+  9 

+  6 

+  7 

—  2          " 

+  1 

r,  30  mm. 

63  mm. 

3    " 

6.3 

ti 

"Now,  mother,  you  see  why  I  asked  you  to  do  ten. 
It's  to  avoid  mere  chance  and  get  a  real  estimate. 
On  the  whole,  Tasker  has  a  more  accurate  sensation 
of  sight  or  movement,  or  whatever  guides  one  in  draw- 
ing lengths;  but  if  I'd  taken  only  one  record  from 
each  of  you,  I  might  have  struck  the  worst  of  his — 
that  is,  the   -{-5 — and  the  best  of  yours — that  is,  the 


52  The  Human  Nature  Club 

+  1,  and  then  we'd  have  thought  you  were  the  more 

accurate.      Everybody  now  get  your  average  error." 

The  club  spent  some  time  in  comparing  notes  and 

seeing    whose    discrimination   of    lengths    was    most 

delicate. 

"I  wonder  why  Mr.  Tasker's  is  the  best  record," 
said  Mrs.  Elkin.  "Do  you  suppose  he  just  has  that 
gift,  or  is  it  because  of  his  training?" 

"The  tea-taster's  and  the  music-professor's  deli- 
cacy of  discrimination  was  due  to  training,  and  prob- 
ably mine  is,  too.  Probably  in  telling  differences  in 
taste,  Mrs.  Ralston  would  beat  me  all  hollow.  I  used 
to  suppose  that  it  was  just  her  fancy  that  led  her  to 
say,  'This  pie  is  a  bit  sweeter  than  those  I  made  last 
week.'  I  couldn't  taste  any  difference,  but  now 
I  really  believe  she  did." 

"I  want  to  add  again  that  just  as  there  may  be 
things  in  the  world  which  we  don't  any  of  us  feel  any 
more  than  the  blind  man  feels  colors,  so  there  are 
differences  which  none  of  us  feel.     Take  these  two 


Fig.  8. 


lines.     I  can't  see  that  either  is  longer  than  the  other, 
can  you?     No!     Well,   if  we  had  a  microscope  and 


The  Human  Nature  Club  ^2 

a  very  accurate  measure  we  would  probably  find 
a  difference.  You  have  one,  Arthur?  Good."  She 
took  the  little  magnifying-glass  and  looked  through 
it  at  the  lines.  Yes,  one  is  really  much  longer.  Now, 
if  I  should  make  them  so  that  under  this  glass  they 
looked  just  equal,  by  taking  a  more  powerful  lens  I'd 
find  them  really  unequal.  Accuracy,  exactness,  in 
things  is  never  an  absolute  thing,  if  you  come  to  think 
of  it,  is  it?  When  we  say  that  a  singer's  notes  are 
absolutely  true,  we  really  mean  that  we  can't  distin- 
guish any  discord." 

"If  nobody  has  anything  more  to  say  about  differ- 
ences in  the  delicacy  of  discrimination,  I'd  like  to  tell 
of  one  more  observation.  Helen  has  a  lot  of  colored 
papers  that  she  plays  with,  and  the  other  day  I  noticed 
that  a  piece  of  green  paper  when  placed  on  red  looks 
much  greener,  while  red  placed  on  green  looks  much 
redder.  The  green  background  will  even  make  a  gray 
look  reddish,  while  the  red  background  makes  a  gray 
look  greenish.      I  wonder  why  that  is." 

"I've  noticed  that  effect  of  contrast,  too,"  said 
Miss  Fairbanks. 

"Red  and  blue-green  are  complementary  colors," 
said  Mr.  Tasker;  "that  is,  red  and  blue-green  light, 
mixed  together  in  the  right  proportions,  make  white 
light.  Does  your  contrast  effect  come  with  yellow 
and  indigo-blue,  orange  and  blue?" 

"It  does  with  orange  and  blue.  I  never  tried  the 
other.  I  will  if  I  can  find  those  colors  among  Helen's 
papers." 

"I  can't  explain  it,  but  it's  probably  true  of  all 
complementary  colors." 


54  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"Isn't  there  a  similar  contrast  in  taste?  Moder- 
ately sweet  coffee  tastes  very  sweet  if  you  drink 
it  right  after  eating  a  sour  orange." 

"Would  it  be  fair  to  make  the  statement  that  we 
feel  almost  all  things,  not  the  way  they  are  in  them- 
selves, but  the  way  they  are  in  relation  to  their  sur- 
roundings? Just  as  a  word's  meaning  is  always  due 
to  a  certain  context,  so  a  thing's  feeling  is  always  due 
to  its  context,  to  what  has  come  with  it.  Sometimes 
a  thing  is  emphasized,  as  with  colors  on  a  contrasting 
background;  sometimes  it  is  weakened,  as  when  sweet 
coffee  seems  no  longer  sweet  after  maple  sugar." 

"I  suppose  we'd  better  stop  soon,  and  do  the  rest 
of  our  talking  by  twos  and  threes.  But  we'd  better 
first  decide  about  next  time.  If  other  things  besides 
the  sensations  one  has  influence  his  reactions,  we 
ought,  perhaps,  to  notice  them,  what  they  are,  and 
what  there  is  to  be  known  about  them,  before  we  go 
on  to  Christian  Science  or  hypnotism,  or  why  some 
children  are  very  like  their  parents  and  others  very 
different  from  them,  though  I  understand  there  are 
lots  of  observations  on  these  and  other  points  waiting 
to  be  reported." 

"I  quite  agree  with  the  chairman,"  said  Mr.  Tas- 
ker;  "and  I'd  suggest  that  we  all  write  out  our  obser- 
vations and  drop  them  into  a  box  here.  Stories  are 
likely  to  grow  if  we  don't  put  them  on  paper.  We'll 
get  around  to  them  sometime.  For  the  present, 
let's  get  at  ordinary  human  behavior  till  we  can  partly 
understand  it.  Then  we  can  go  on  to  these  more 
exciting  questions.  I  hear  that  Mr.  Henshaw  has 
about  a    hundred    observations   which   convince   him 


The  Human  Nature  Club  ^5 

that  the  female  half  of  human  nature  is  of  a  lower 
order  of  intelligence." 

"Not  lower,  but  different,"  cried  Mr.  Henshaw. 

"I  hope  you'll  produce  them.  We  can  have 
a  debate.  But  for  next  time  let's  ask  just,  'What 
else  besides  differences  in  their  sensations  makes 
differences  in  human  beings'  actions?' 

With  this  understanding  the  meeting  adjourned. 

NOTES   BY    THE    EDITOR. 

The  club's  conclusions  about  sensations  may  be  summarized 
as  follows: 

Our  actions  depend  on  our  sensations: 

(a)  On  the  presence  or  absence  of  a  sense. 

{d)  On  the  presence  or  absence  of  some  special  function  of 
a  sense — e.£:,  green-vision. 

{c)  On  the  range  covered  by  a  sense. 

(d)  On  the  delicacy  of  discrimination. 

There  may  de  differences  without  our  feeling  them,  and  the 
same  real  difference  which  when  added  to  one  thing  makes  us 
feel  a  difference,  may  not  be  enough  to  cause  such  a  feelmg 
when  added  to  another  thing.  Thus  it  would  be  easy  to  see  a 
difference  between  a  one  candle-power  and  a  two  candle-power 
electric  lamp,  but  impossible  to  tell  the  difference  between  a 
tnree  hundred  and  a  three  hundred  and  one  candle-power  lamp. 

Finally,  our  sensation  of  a  thing  may  depend  not  only  on  it, 
but  also  on  its  surroundings. 

We  might  say  further  about  sensations,  that  in  addition  to 
sights,  sounds,  smells,  tastes  and  touches,  we  have  sensations 
of  heat,  of  cold,  sensations  due  to  contraction  of  the  muscles, 
strain  of  tendons,  rubbing  of  joints,  sensations  of  hunger,  thirst, 
nausea,  of  changes  of  equilibrium,  of  pain,  etc. 

Complex  sensations  vary  in  quality  according  to  the  simple 
sensations  involved,  and  these  simple  sensations  show  (i)  differ- 
ences between  the  senses — e.  g.,  between  a  sound  and  a  taste; 
(2)  differences  within  the  same  sense— d?.  g.,  between  red  and 


\ 


56 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


'blue.  Some  of  these  differences  seem  differences  of  more  or 
less  of  the  same  thing— ^.  g.,  loud  and  louder  tones,  bright  and 
brighter  light,  etc.  These  may  be  called  differences  in  inten- 
sity. 

These  sensations  are  all  due  to  action  in  the  nerve-cells  of 
the  brain,  aroused  by  action  in  the  nerve-cells  coming  from  our 
different  sense  organs.  Nerve-cells  starting  in  eye,  ear,  nose, 
mouth,  skin,  surfaces  of  the  joints,  tendons,  glands,  etc.,  run  to 
the  brain.  At  their  outer  ends  they  are  set  in  action  by  light 
or  heat  or  pressure  or  some  other  cause,  and  transmit  this  ac- 
tivity to  their  inner  ends  inside  the  brain,  there  making  connec- 
tions with  other  cells.  (See  Figure  2,  page  ii.)  Thus  sensa- 
tions may  cease  for  any  one  of  several  reasons.  If  a  man's 
eyes  are  cut  out,  he  can't  see,  because  the  outer  ends  of  the 
nerve-cells  are  destroyed.  If  you  leave  his  eyes  unharmed, 
but  cut  the  two  bundles  of  nerve-cells  going  from  his, eyes  to 
his  brain,  he  can't  see,  because  the  activity  can't  be  transmitted 
to  the  brain.  The  eye  alone  can't  see.  If  you  leave  eye  and 
nerve-cells,  but  cut  out  the  place  in  the  brain  to  which  these 
cells  go;  i.e.,  cut  out  their  connections  with  other  cells,  he  can't 
see,  because  you've  destroyed  the  connections. 

Successful  use  of  one's  senses  may  in  the  same  way  depend 
on  the  condition  of  the  sense-organ,  of  the  nerve-cells  from  it 
to  the  brain,  and  of  the  cells  with  which  they  there  make  con- 
nections. 

For  a  convenient  account  of  our  sensations,  see  (i)  William 
James,  "Briefer  Course  in  Psychology,"  pp.  9-771  o^  (2)  E,  B. 
Titchener,  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  pp.  26-91. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    INFLUENCE    OF    PAST   EXPERIENCE 

"We  saw  last  time,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston,  "that  the 
way  a  person  acted  in  any  situation  depended  on  the 
sensations  he  had.  We  were  to  have  in  mind  this 
week  the  question,  'What  else  in  a  man  besides  the 
number  and  range  and  delicacy  of  his  sense-powers 
influences  the  reactions  he  makes?' 

"I  presume  you've  all  thought  of  the  case  which 
I  have  in  mind,  but  just  let  me  read  it  to  you,  so  we'll 
have  the  exact  facts  in  mind. 

"  *A  certain  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho  and  fell  among  thieves,  which  stripped  him 
of  his  raiment,  and  wounded  him,  and  departed, 
leaving  him  half  dead.  And  by  chance  there  came 
down  a  certain  priest  that  way;  and  when  he  saw  him, 
he  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  And  likewise 
a  Levite,  when  he  was  at  the  place,  came  and  looked 
on  him,  and  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  But  a  cer- 
tain Samaritan,  as  he  journeyed,  came  where  he  was; 
and  when  he  saw  him,  he  had  compassion  on  him,  and 
went  to  him,  and  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil 
and  wine,  and  set  him  on  his  own  beast,  and  brought 
him  to  an  inn,  and  took  care  of  him." 

"Now  the  priest  and  the  Levite  probably  saw  just 
what  the  Samaritan  saw.  Their  sensations  didn't 
differ  from  his,  but  their  reactions  differed  tremen- 

•Luke  X.  30-34,  inclusive. 

57 


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c8  The  Human  Nature  Club 

dously.  And  the  difference  was  due  to  their  charac- 
ters, their  general  attitude  toward  people.  The  same 
nerve  commotions  came  from  the  eye  to  the  brain  in 
all  three  cases,  but  in  two  of  the  brains  connections 
existed  which  caused  the  nerve  commotions  from  the 
eyes  to  arouse  acts  of  'passing  by  on  the  other  side,' 
sticking  the  nose  up  in  the  air  and  saying  to  oneself, 
'I  wonder  when  I'll  be  made  a  member  of  the  San- 
hedrin,'  while  in  the  Samaritan's  brain  connections 
existed  which  caused  the  pitiful  sight  to  result  in  the 
acts  described.  If,  as  the  doctor  told  us,  we  act  as 
'  we  do  because  of  connections  between  certain  sense- 
impressions  and  certain  movements,  I  should  say  that 
a  person's  behavior  in  any  situation  depended  not  only 
on  what  sense-impressions  he  had,  but  also  on  what 
connections  exist,  on  what  sort  of  a  brain  the  sense- 
impressions  come  to.  I'm  afraid  this  is  all  wrong,  but 
I  thought  it  all  out  and  made  Mr.  Tasker  tell  me  how 
to  say  it." 

"It's  all  right,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  Mrs.  Ralston. 
If  you  take  our  old  telephone  illustration,  you  could 
say  that  the  result  of  a  message  depends  not  only  on 
what  the  message  is,  but  also  on  whom  it  goes  to, 
what  wire  the  first  wire  is  connected  with  at  the  cen- 
tral office.  In  the  case  of  the  priest,  connection  was 
made  with  Mr.  Nose-elevating  Muscle  and  with  the 
office  of  the  'Pass  by  on  the  other  side'  Company. 

"I  remember  a  rather  funny  instance  of  the  way 
just  the  same  sense-impression  can  produce  entirely 
different  reactions  in  people,  according  to  their  pre- 
vious education,  which  means,  I  suppose,  according 
to  the  constitution  of  their  brains,   the  connections 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


59 


existing  between  nerve-cells.  I  once  went  with 
a  friend  to  a  spiritualistic  seance.  We  sat  beside  two 
women,  evidently  believers.  Various  spooky  forms 
emerged  from  the  cabinet  and  spoke  solemnly  of  the 
other  world.  The  reactions  of  the  women  were  bated 
breath  and  a  tendency  to  tears.  My 
reaction  was  extreme  disgust  mixed 
with  a  strong  desire  to  laugh.  What 
a  person  does  in  any  situation  evi- 
dently depends  not  only  on  the  sensa- 
tions he  has,  but  also  on  the  make- 
up of  the  mind  that  has  them." 

"Not  only  what  he  does,  but  what 
he  thinks,  you  might  add,"  said  Mrs. 
Elkin.  "I  once  gave  ten  cents  to  a 
little  girl  in  the  country,  telling  her 
to  put  it  in  the  bank.  Her  thoughts 
in  connection  with  the  word  'bank' 
surely  differed  from  mine,  for  she  put 
the  dime  in  the  sand-bank  by  the 
road.  If  four  of  you  will  come  into 
the  other  room,  I'll  try  an  experi- 
ment which  I  think  will  show  how  the 
effect  of  any  sense-impression  depends  on  the  mind 
that  receives  it." 

Mrs.  Ralston,  Mr.  Elkin,  and  Arthur  went  out  with 
her,  and  came  back  in  a  minute.  Then  Mrs.  Elkin 
drew  on  the  blackboard  a  figure  like  figure  9. 

Mrs.  Ralston,  Mr.  Elkin  and  Arthur  smiled  appre- 
ciatively, while  the  others  seemed  very  much  puzzled. 

"I  suppose  you  are  wondering  what  makes  these 
three  smile,   while   you   feel   simply  mystified.       The 


Fig.  9. 


So  The  Human  Nature  Club 

only  difference  is  that  I  supplied  their  minds  with 
a  bit  of  information,  built  up  some  connections  be- 
tween their  cells,  I  dare  say.  Now,  I'll  do  the  same 
for  you.  Listen  and  look  at  the  figure.  An  artist 
once  said  that  he  could  with  three  lines  portray  a  sol- 
dier entering  a  house,  followed  by  his  dog." 

The  others  now  had  their  turn  at  enjoying  the 
drawing.  Mrs.  Elkin  continued:  "I  think  that  is 
rather  a  pretty  instance  of  how  just  the  same  thing 
may  arouse  totally  different  thoughts  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  mind  that  sees  it." 

"Yes;  that's  very  good.  In  fact,  I  think  our 
point  is  now  entirely  clear,  but  I've  thought  up  an 
imaginary  story  that  I  want  to  inflict  on  you.  In 
New  Orleans,  at  a  theater,  two  men  sat  side  by  side. 
One  was  the  president  of  the  St.  Clair  Trust  Company, 
another  owned  a  block  near  the  river.  A  man  rushes 
in  and  cries  out,  'The  banks  are  giving  way!'  The 
first  man  rushes  out  to  borrow  money,  the  second  to 
hire  laborers." 

"That's  just  my  story  in  another  form,"  declared 
Mrs.  Elkin.      "You're  plagiarizing." 

"Well,  it's  a  good  illustration,  anyway." 
"May  I  try  to  put  all  these  facts  into  a  few  gen- 
eral statements?"  said  Mr.  Tasker.  "How  is  this? 
What  we  think  or  feel  or  do  in  any  situation  depends, 
first  of  all,  on  whether  we  feel  the  situation  itself,  on 
how  our  senses  act,  but  it  also  depends  on  what  ideas 
or  acts  the  sensations  arouse.  Now  the  latter  depend 
on  our  mental  constitution,  on  our  knowledge  and 
habits,  and  these  depend  on  our  previous  life.  So 
that  what  we  think  or  feel  or  do  at  any  time  depends 


The  Human  Nature  Club  6i 

partly  on  all  that  we  have  thought  and  felt  and  done 
in  the  past.  If  we  refer  all  this  to  the  way  our  brains 
work,  we  shall  say  that  our  thoughts  and  feelings  and 
acts  are  dependent,  first  of  all,  on  what  action  goes 
on  in  the  cells  coming  from  eye,  ear,  etc.,  but  also 
upon  what  sort  of  action  this  causes  in  the  cells  within 
the  brain  itself  and  the  cells  going  out  to  the  muscles. 
Now,  here  the  whole  previous  life  of  these  cells  will 
make  a  difference.  Just  the  same  eye-action  may 
make  two  brains  act  differently,  because  those  two 
brains  have  acquired  different  make-ups.  The  same 
nickel  may  cause  one  machine  to  give  out  a  piece  of 
gum,  another  machine  a  piece  of  candy,  because  the 
machines  are  different.  The  result  depends  on  the 
machine  as  well  as  the  nickel,  the  brain  as  well  as 
the  eye  or  ear." 

"I  object  to  that  statement  on  the  ground  of 
incompleteness.  You  talk  as  if  all  the  cell-connec- 
tions that  had  ever  been  made,  all  the  knowledge 
and  habits  that  a  man  had  acquired  during  all  his  life, 
made  a  difference  in  the  way  he  reacted  to  everything. 
But  that  isn't  so.  Mr.  Elkin  is  a  Presbyterian  and  in 
the  shoe  business.  Miss  Fairbanks  is  a  Methodist 
and  a  music-teacher.  I'm  not  anything  in  the  church 
line  and  edit  a  paper.  Yet  by  and  by,  when  the 
chairman  says  this  meeting  is  adjourned,  we  will  all 
react  in  about  the  same  way.  Our  vastly  different 
previous  mental  lives  won't  make  any  difference. 
I  write  on  the  board,  ''Homines  pontes  faciimt. '  The 
thing  which  decides  what  thoughts  we  will  have  in  this 
situation — namely,  seeing  those  chalk-marks — isn't 
our    religious    or   business    or    political     nature,    but 


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The  Human  Nature  Club 


just    the    presence    or    absence    of    a    knowledge    of 
Latin. 

People  may  react  alike  if  they  are  alike  in  a  certain 
system  of  thinking  which  is  concerned,  even  though 
they  are  vastly  different  in  other  respects.  I  say, 
'How  much  are  eight  times  five?'  and  five  thousand 
people  may  react  alike,  and  yet  be  of  vastly  different 
mental  make-ups.      On  the  other  hand,  two  men  may 

have  thought  and  acted 
alike  on  ninety-nine  per 
cent  of  the  world's  ques- 
tions, but  if  one  of  them 
happens  never  to  have 
learned  arithmetic,  their  re- 
actions to  that  question 
will  be  very  different,  for 
it  is  only  that  part  of  their 
mental  constitution  that's 
concerned." 

"You're  quite  right. 
The  mind,  the  brain,  is,  of  course,  a  tremendously 
complex  affair,  and  not  all  of  it  is  at  work  at  once 
in  any  single  situation." 

"I  have  still  another  addition  to  make.  The  very 
same  person  may  to  the  very  same  sensations  react 
differently  on  different  occasions,  according  to  what 
thoughts  are  temporarily  uppermost  in  his  mind. 
Let  me  follow  Arthur's  example,  and  experiment  on 
you.  Please  imagine  a  pyramid  with  the  tip  cut  off 
sticking  out  at  you  from  the  board  while  I  draw." 
He  then  drew  a  figure  like  figure  lo  and  quickly  erased 
it.     "What  did  you  see?" 


Fig.  10. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  6^ 

"A  pyramid,  of  course." 

"Was  its  small  end  sticking  out  toward  you?" 

"Yes." 

"Well!  Now  imagine  an  open  box,  shaped  like  the 
pyramid,  but  with  the  small  end  away  from  you,  while 
I  draw  again."  He  then  drew  the  same  figure  again. 
"What  did  you  see?" 

"The  box  you  told  us  about,  of  course;  that's 
what  you  drew." 

"Was  its  small  end  away  from  you?" 

"Yes." 

"Very  good.  I  drew  exactly  the  same  figure  in 
each  case,  but  one  sees  it  as  sticking  out  or  as  hol- 
low or  even  as  a  flat  surface,  just  according  to  which 
idea  you  have  uppermost  in  your  mind.  I  noticed 
the  thing  I  just  tried  on  you  years  ago.  It  seems  as 
if  we  could  have  certain  cells  temporarily  half  a-going, 
so  that  they  are  more  likely  to  receive  the  commotion 
from  the  eye  than  others." 

"That  may  be  the  reason  why  it's  so  hard  to  see 
mistakes  in  a  letter  that  you've  written  yourself. 
Your  mind  is  full  of  the  thing  you  intended  to  write, 
and  you  see  it,  even  if  on  the  paper  it's  different. 
I  have  a  trick  of  writing  'the'  or  'they'  for  'their,' 
and  even  when  I  re-read  a  letter  I've  written,  I'll 
often  leave  the  mistake  in." 

"You  can  make  such  mistakes,  too,  because  of 
your  general  mental  make-up,  your  previous  mental 
life,"  added  Miss  Atwell.  For  instance,  I  picked  up 
the  paper  the  other  day,  and  seeing  the  heading  'The 
School-Girl  Question,'  started  to  read  that  column. 
What  was  my  surprise  to  find  it  was  really  'The  Ser- 


64  The  Human  Nature  Club 

vant-Girl   Question.'     My    general    bent   of   mind   as 
a   teacher  had   made   me   interpret   my  hasty   glance 
wrongly.     You,  Mrs.  Ralston,  I  suppose,  would  make 
the  opposite  mistake,  in  case  you  made  any.      The  cell 
commotions  coming  from  our  organs  of  sense— that  is, 
from  eyes,  ears,   nose,  skin,    etc.— seem   to  serve  as 
hints,    which   we   interpret   sometimes   rightly,  some- 
times wrongly.     The  reception  a  sensation  meets  with 
seems  to  be  about  as  important  as  the  sensation  itself." 
"Do  you   remember  the   talk  we  were  having  at 
breakfast  about   Professor   Larkin's   lecture   the  day 
the  club  was  started?"  said  Mrs.  Elkin.      "I  said  that 
it  wasn't  the  eyes  that  saw,  but  the  knowledge  behind 
them,  and  Herbert  backed  me  up  by  telling  how  Mr. 
Rogers  could   see  at  a  distance  of  ten   feet  bugs  and 
things  that  he  couldn't  see  till  they  were  pointed  out 
to  him.      Our  talk  to-night  has  shown  that  we  were 
right,  hasn't  it?" 

NOTES    BY   THE    EDITOR, 

The  club's  conclusions  in  this  chapter  are  all  thoroughly 
'scientific.  What  we  think  and  feel  and  do  in  any  situation 
does  depend  on  the  make-up  of  the  brain  the  stimulus  comes 
to,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  stimulus  itself,  (i)  The  general 
bias  of  the  mind,  (2)  its  particular  equipment  in  a  certam 
field,  and  (3)  the  ideas  wnich  temporarily  possess  it,  all  make 
a  difference. 

This  fact  is  often  referred  to  by  the  words  Apperception  or 

Assimilation. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ATTENTION 

Mr.  Elkin,  who  was  the  chairman,  opened  the  sixth 
meeting  of  the  club  by  saying,  "I  didn't  have  to  look 
far  for  another  general  influence  on  human  conduct 
or  behavior,  or  reactions,  and  I  want  to  be  the  first  to 
report  to-night. 

"I've  been  surprised  again  and  again  since  Helen 
was  born  by  occurrences  like  this.  My  wife  and 
I  would  be  sitting  here  talking,  when  all  of  a  sudden 
she'd  jump  up  and  start  for  the  door.  'What's  the 
matter?'  I  would  say  'Baby's  crying;  don't  you 
hear?'  would  be  the  reply,  and  off  she'd  go.  If  I  lis- 
tened attentively  then  I  could  hear  the  far-off  squall- 
ing that  is  a  necessary  evil  accompanying  one  of  the 
best  things  in  the  world.  But  until  then  I  hadn't 
heard  a  sound.  Now,  my  ears  are  keener  than  my 
wife's,  so  that  if  it  had  been  a  matter  of  sensation, 
I  should  have  heard  first.  It  wasn't,  nor  was  it 
wholly  a  matter  of  preparation.  The  difference  was 
in  her  attention.  As  she  used  to  say,  she  kept  half- 
listening  for  the  baby  all  the  time.  In  thinking  about 
similar  facts  this  week,  I've  come  to  the  opinion  that 
differences  in  one's  attention  to  his  sensations  and 
thoughts  may  make  almost  any  difference  in  the  reac- 
tion. I  walked  right  into  a  tree  the  other  day  while 
I  was  thinking  about  some  business  matter.  Now, 
my  eyes  were  open  and  the  tree  was  right  in  front  of 

65 


66  The  Human  Nature  Club 

me,  so  I  must  have  had  the  sensations  which  would 
lead  one  to  turn  aside.  I  certainly  know  enough  not 
to  try  to  walk  through  a  tree.  Yet  I  hit  it  fair  and 
square.  The  trouble  was  that  I  was  attending  to  my 
own  thoughts.  So  it  seems  to  me  that  what  we  do, 
the  way  we  act  in  the  different  circumstances  in  which^ 
we  are,  is  decided  not  only  by  what  sensations  we  gc 
and  what  sort  of  previous  experiences  we've  had,  bu. 
also  by  the  amount  of  attention  we  give  to  the  sensa- 
tions." 

"I'm  glad  you've  brought  this  matter  up,  for, 
I  had  been  thinking  of  the  same  thing  in  connection 
with  the  boys  and  girls  at  school.  The  thing  that 
makes  perhaps  the  most  difference  between  pupils 
in  school  life  is  the  extent  to  which  they,  so  to  speak, 
focus  their  thoughts  on  the  subject  at  hand.  In  fact, 
this  is  one  aspect  of  human  nature  that  I'd  studied 
a  good  deal  before  we  started  this  club." 

"Let's  have  Mr.  Tasker  give  us  a  sort  of  a  lecture 
on  attention  now,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks.  "Then  we 
can  ask  him  questions  and  make  him  explain  any 
observations  we've  made  that  seem  due  to  it." 
"Yes;  that  will  be  a  good  thing." 
"It  seems  to  me  that  I'm  always  talking  here,  but 
perhaps  I  do  know  a  bit  more  about  this  particular 
thing  than  you  do.  First  of  all,  I'm  sorry  you  started 
out  with  the  word  'attention,'  for  when  we  say  'Give 
attention  to,'  or  'I  attended,'  we  don't  really  mean 
that  there  is  any  stuff  'attention'  that  we  add  to  our 
sensations  or  ideas,  or  any  sort  of  a  performance 
'attending'  that  we  go  through.  We  mean  just  the 
facts  that  (i)  we  assume  certain  bodily  attitudes,  that 


The  Human  Nature  Club  67 

(2)  certain  sensations  or  ideas  are  clear,  while  others  \ 
are  weak  and  indistinct,  and  that  (3)  certain  impulses  \ 
and  ideas  are  checked,  nipped  in  the  bud,  whenever 
they  venture  to  appear.  For  instance,  when  a  boy  in 
my  school  is,  as  we  say,  attending  to  what  I'm  saying 
to  the  class,  what  really  happens  in  him  is,  first,  that 
'  ;  holds  his  head  so  as  to  hear  me  well,  keeps  the 
1  luscles  in  his  ears  tense,  and  very  likely  keeps  his 
body  rather  still,  and  breathes  differently  from  usual. 
This  sort  of  thing  is  what  I've  called  assuming  a  cer- 
tain bodily  attitude.  In  the  second  place,  the  sensa- 
tions of  sound  which  he  gets  from  my  voice  are  clear 
and  emphatic  to  him,  while  the  sounds  from  the  street, 
the  other  boys'  faces,  the  hot  or  cold  temperature  of 
the  room,  etc.,  are  all  more  indistinct  and  weak.  My 
words  are,  so  to  speak,  in  focus,  while  all  the  rest  is 
out  of  focus.  In  the  third  place,  supposing  some  one 
whispers  to  him,  he  may  check  the  impulse  to  whisper 
back. 

Now  it  is  surely  true  that  this  boy  will  react  differ- 
ently to  my  words  than  a  boy  who  sits  listlessly, 
with  now  one  thing  uppermost  in  his  thoughts,  now 
another,  not  checking  the  aimless  impulses  that  come 
up.  He  will  hear  them  better,  understand  them  bet- 
ter, remember  them  better.  It  is  also  clear,  to  take 
a  case  like  Mr.  Elkin's,  that  a  boy  who  sat  there  with 
his  ears  strained  to  catch  the  whispers  of  the  girl 
behind  him,  with  her  silly  talk  clear  'in  the  focus,' 
and  my  wise  words  vague  and  out  of  focus,  checking 
all  impulses  to  anything  save  listening  to  that  girl, 
would  react  very  differently  from  the  first  boy.  He 
would  be  attending,  but  to  the  wrong  thing,  as  wa 


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The  Human  Nature  Club 


Mr.  Elkin  in  the  case  of  the  tree.     Is  this  clear,  so 
far?" 

"How  do  you  know  that  one's  ear-muscles  behave 
differently  when  one  listens?  The  ears  don't  move, 
do  they?" 

"They  do  in  some  animals,  and  may  tend  to  in  us. 
But  what  made  me  think  the  muscles  were  tense  was 

the  feeling  of  re- 
laxation in  your 
ears  which  you 
have  when  you've 
been  attending 
closely  to  sounds, 
but  suddenly 
stop." 

"I  don't  believe 
I  ever  felt  that." 

"Well,  it  doesn't 
matter.  You'll 
agree  there  is  some 
change  of  bodily 
attitude?" 
'Yes;  I  just  wondered  about  the  ear-strain." 
'To  go  on,  then,  the  main  thing  to  note  is  that 
any  time  we  may  have  a  number  of  things  in  mind, 
and  that  they  are  not  all  on  a  dead  level,  but  that 
some  one  has  the  preeminence  over  the  others,  is 
clearer  and  more  emphatic,  and  plays  the  leading  role 
in  determining  our  conduct,  our  reactions.  Let  me 
make  a  picture  of  Mr.  Elkin's  mind  at  the  time  he 
bumped  his  head  against  the  tree.  I'll  put  the  clear, 
emphatic,  possessing  thoughts  in  the  center,  and  the 


Fig.  II. 


((I 


The  Human  Nature  Club  69 

vague,  unattended-to  thoughts  outside.  When  he  hit 
the  tree  there  was  a  change.  The  shock  and  pain 
were  so  emphatic  that  they  temporarily  banished  the 
thoughts  about  the  shoe  business  to  the  margin,  and 
usurped  the  central  place — /.  e.,  were  attended  to. 
The  main  thing,  I  repeat,  is  this  preeminence  of  one 
among  many  feelings.  There  may  also  be  more  or 
less  of  the  bodily  attitude  and  checking  of  other 
thoughts  and  impulses." 

"Do  you  think  that  we  always  are  absorbed — 'pos- 
sessed,' to  use  your  word — by  some  one  thing  above 
others?  When  one  lies  on  one's  back  in  the  grass  on 
a  summer's  day,  half-awake,  half-asleep,  thinking  of 
a  dozen  things,  but  not  thinking  much  of  any  of  them, 
is  there  really  any  one  'focal'  idea?  Aren't  they  all 
on  the  same  level?" 

"I  don't  know  about  that.  They  seem  to  be.  But 
maybe  they  do  have  preeminence,  one  at  a  time,  but 
keep  it  only  for  half  a  second  or  so,  and  thus  give  us 
the  idea  that  during  any  ten  or  fifteen  seconds  we've 
thought  indifferently  of  a  dozen  things.  I  don't  see 
how  one  can  settle  the  question.     Take  your  choice." 

"Here's  another  question.  Is  there  any  fixed 
number  of  things  one  can  have  in  mind  at  once?" 

"I  don't  believe  so.  It  seems  to  me  that  people 
differ  greatly,  that  some  boys  in  school,  for  instance, 
have  what  I  call  a  'broad  thought-capacity.'  They 
seem  to  have  a  lot  of  things  in  mind  at  once.  Little 
Dodge,  who  was  the  football  captain  last  year,  seemed 
to  be  able  to  watch  all  twenty-one  players  at  once. 
The  same  trait  appeared  in  his  school-work,  too.  On 
the  other  hand,  some  people  seem  to  have  a  narrow 


yo  The  Human  Nature  Club 

field  of  consciousness.      Their  thoughts  go  single  file. 
They  can  only  do  one  thing  at  a  time." 

"To  come  back  to  attention,  I  suppose  we  ought 
to  try  to  find  out  what  sort  of  goings  on  in  our  nerve- 
cells  correspond  to  this  prominence  of  one  idea  over 
others,  but  I  confess  I  have  only  a  guess,  and  can't 
find  much  about  it  in  books.  The  bodily  attitude  is, 
of  course,  due  to  the  action  on  the  muscles  of  nerve- 
cells  going  out  from  the  brain,  the  checking  of  other 
ideas  and  impulses.  I  found  in  James's  'Psychology' 
the  following  statement  about  that:  'The  sense  organ 
must  ,  .  .  adapt  itself  to  clearest  reception  of  the 
object  by  the  adjustment  of  its  muscular  apparatus.'^ 

"But  as  I  said,  for  the  mere  superior  clearness  and 
emphasis  of  one  idea  compared  with  others,  I  have 
only  a  guess  at  an  explantion.  It  is  that  in  these 
cases  the  nerve-action  lasts  for  a  longer  time.  I  have 
one  observation  which  gives  some  little  evidence  for 
such  a  view.  In  the  reveries  we  spoke  of  a  few 
minutes  ago,  where  no  ideas  are  very  clear  or  em- 
phatic, we  can  have  a  lot  of  ideas  in  a  short  time, 
many  more,  I  think,  than  we  have  when  our  ideas  are 
of  the  clear,  emphatic  kind.  So  there  seems  to  be 
a  time  difference." 

"Don't  you  think,  Mr.  Tasker,  that  it  is  important 
to  cultivate  children's  minds  in  this  respect?  I  knew 
a  little  girl  who  seemed  bright  enough,  but  who  just 
couldn't  keep  one  thing  uppermost  in  her  mind.  Any 
interesting  sound  or  sight,  any  idea  that  crossed  the 
margin  of  her  mind,  would  drive  out  the  arithmetic 
or  piano  lesson    or  whatever  it  was  that  she  should 

'Page  228. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  71 

have  kept  in  the  focus.  The  result  was  that  she 
never  learned  to  do  anything  very  well,  that  she  was 
always  scatter-brained  and  seemed  queer  to  other 
people." 

"It  is  certainly   highly  important.       I    think    it's 
a  big  part  of  education  at  home  and  at  school." 

"But  how  can  you  cultivate  it?     It  seems  to  me 
that  some  people  just  are  so  and  some  just  aren't." 

"There's  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  that.  I  can  see*^ 
in  school  that  the  nervous  constitution  a  child  is  born 
with  and  the  general  state  of  his  health  both 
influence  his  power  of  attention.  Still  I'm  sure  it  can 
be  cultivated  in  two  ways.  The  trouble  with  your  lit- 
tle girl  was  that  she  didn't  check,  didn't  nip  in  the 
bud — 'inhibit'  is  the  scientific  word,  I  believe — the 
irrelevant  ideas  and  impulses  which  came  to  her. 
Very  likely  the  feeling  of  effort  or  strain  which 
comes  when  we  attend  was  intolerable  to  her.  Now, 
one  can  improve  oneself  in  this  regard.  One  can 
learn  to  stand  the  disagreeable  feeling  of  effort,  to 
resist  the  attractions  of  irrelevant  ideas,  by  beginning 
by  doing  it  for  a  very  short  period;  that  is,  you'd 
start  in  by  attending  to  something — e.  g.,  a  spelling 
lesson — for  say  ten  seconds,  and  gradually  increase 
the  time.  While  you  did  attend  to  a  thing,  you'd 
attend  to  it  exclusively,  but  if  your  power  was  weak, 
you'd  not  try  to  attend  for  long.  Moreover,  what- 
ever you  were  trying  to  learn,  you  would  learn  by 
recall.  Take  spelling,  for  example.  You'd  have 
your  little  girl  look  at  two  or  three  words  for  ten 
seconds  only,  then  try  to  write  them  down  herself.  / 
This  recalling  things  from  within,  instead  of  repeat- 


/ 


yi  The  Human  Nature  Club 

edly  reading  them,  gives  one  practice  in  standing  the 
feeling  of  effort  and  in  checking  irrelevant  impulses. 

"The  other  way  of  improving  ourselves  along  this 
line  is  by  getting  interested  in  the  right  sort  of  things. 
Most  inattentive  people  aren't  so  much  inattentive  as 
attentive  to  the  wrong  things.  The  bad  boy  in 
school  is  generaly  attentive.  The  trouble  is  that  the 
object  of  his  attention  is  the  spit-ball  or  the  girl  in 
the  corner  instead  of  the  algebra  lesson.  Our  atten- 
tion largely  follows  our  interests,  and  we  improve 
it  by  improving  them,  by  making  it  pay  to  attend  to 
the  good  things.  We've  all  gone  through  such  a  pro* 
cess.  When  we  were  babies,  we  attended  to  the  light 
of  the  lamp,  the  milk-bottle,  to  our  food  and  drink  and 
aches  and  pains.  A  little  later  the  prominent  objects 
for  our  minds  were  bright,  moving  objects,  beetles 
and  flies,  tearable  things,  brass  bands  and  hand- 
organs;  later  still,  wading  in  brooks,  robbing  birds' 
nests  and  fighting;  later  still,  athletics  and  parties; 
still  later,  our  business  or  political  party  or  church. 
Our  interests  change  of  themselves  as  we  grow,  and 
our  playmates  and  parents  and  teachers  and  preach- 
ers change  them  for  us.  As  I  hinted  before,  I  believe 
that  a  big  part  of  civilization  is  just  a  change  in  the 
nature  of  the  objects  to  which  we  attend." 

"You  could  say,  too,  couldn't  you,  that  a  pretty  fair 
measure  of  any  individual's  culture  or  intellectual 
make-up  was  the  sort  of  things  he  attended  to. 
A  girl  may  have  had  every  chance,  may  have  been 
through  college  and  gone  abroad  and  absorbed 
a  great  deal  of  information,  but  if  she  chooses  to  think 


The  Human  Nature  Club  73 

chiefly  of  her  looks  and  clothes,  her  culture  won't  be 
of  much  service  to  her  or  to  any  one  else." 

"Yes.  In  my  opinion,  what  a  person  selects  or' 
chooses  is  always  a  better  key  to  his  make-up  than 
what  he  has.  However,  we  ought  to  remember  that 
one's  permanent  interests,  one's  tendencies  to  attend, 
are  largely  dependent  on  what  one  has,  on  one's  per- 
manent store  of  knowledge.  Ordinarily,  if  one  fills 
his  mind  with  a  subject,  he  will  become  interested  in 
it  and  attend  to  it.  Another  thing  that  I've  often 
noticed  is  that  sometimes  just  the  notion  of  attending 
to  a  certain  class  of  things  may  have  a  surprisingly 
big  influence.  Boys  in  school  who  have  never 
thought  of  their  physical  development  to  any  extent, 
are  'struck,'  as  we  say,  by  the  athletic  craze,  get  sud- 
denly the  idea  of  attending  to  their  own  physique, 
and  from  then  on  they  are  constantly  testing  their 
strength,  training,  weighing  themselves,  etc.  Or  take 
ourselves,  for  example.  I  suppose  most  of  us  have 
in  the  last  month  paid  more  attention  to  our  own 
actions  and  thoughts  and  to  the  ways  they  behave 
than  we  did  in  the  year  before.  I  was  started  on  this 
new  track  by  Arthur's  famous  observation,  and  I  sup- 
pose my  idea  started  you.  Why  I  speak  of  these  sud- 
den changes  in  the  nature  of  the  things  we  attend  to 
is  because  it  is  an  aspect  of  human  nature  which 
seems  to  me  practically  important.  It  gives  the  pos- 
sibility of  reforming  it,  of  a  sort  of  sudden  intellectual 
conversion.  Change  or  improvement  in  the  things 
which  hold  the  preeminence  in  our  minds  need  not 
always   be   as   gradual   as   it   generally   is.     For   we 


74  The  Human  Nature  Club 

mustn't  forget  that  a  change  more  frequently  comes 
slowly.     What  did  you  start  to  say,  Henshaw?" 

"Before  we  leave  this  topic  of  attention  I'd  like  to 
call  your  attention  to  a  fact  Tasker  has  hinted  at. 
We  saw  last  time  that  what  was  in  us,  due  to  our  pre- 
vious thoughts  and  experiences,  influenced  our  reac- 
tions. One  way  it  does  it  is  by  directing  our  attention — 
that  is,  by  making  certain  impressions  clear  and 
inhibiting  others.  In  Tasker's  words,  'One's  tenden- 
cies to  attend  are  dependent  on  what  one  has,  on 
one's  permanent  store  of  knowledge.'  He  could  have 
added,  'and  also  on  whatever  happens  to  temporarily 
fill  the  mind.'  " 

"It's  time  now,"  said  the  chairman,  "to  talk  about 
our  next  meeting.  The  observation  and  question  box 
has  been  filling  up,  but  I  know  of  at  least  one  more 
factor  that  influences  the  reactions  of  human  beings, 
and  I  think  we'd  better  keep  on  the  same  tack  a  little 
longer.  I  suppose  you  all,  in  the  meantime,  are  talk- 
ing human  nature  and  comparing  notes  on  what  you 
see  just  as  we  are  here  in  the  house.  One  thing  the 
club  has  done  for  us  is  to  relieve  daily  conversation 
from  the  burden  of  the  weather,  Helen's  health,  and 
the  latest  things  in  passementerie,  mousseline  de  sole, 
overskirts,  and  polonaised  gores  of  chiffon.  There's 
been  a  mighty  good  change  in  the  sort  of  things  we 
attend  to,  I  can  tell  you." 

NOTES   BY   THE    EDITOR. 

The  club's  main  conclusions  are,  as  usual,  scientific.    Not  so 

yTOUch  the  thoughts  we  have  as  the  thought  we  have  clearly  in 

'  the  mind's   focus,   count   in   determining  our  conduct.      Mr. 

Tasher's  description  of  this  condition  needs  no  amendment. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  75 

His  guess  as  to  its  cause  is  only  a  guess,  but  a  rather  ingenious 
one.  It  is  well  to  notice  that  we  have  two  very  different  sorts 
of  predominance  in  our  ideas;  first,  predominance  due  to  the 
intrinsic  attractiveness  of  the  idea,  when  we  feel  that  the  idea 
claims  attention  of  itself;  second,  predominance  when  we  feel 
that  we  ^zV<?  attention  to  it  contrary  to  our  natural  impulses. 
The  second  sort  has  going  with  it  a  feeling  of  strain  or  effort. 
The  first  is  often  called  involu7itary  attention,  the  second 
voluntary.  Our  aim  should  be,  as  Mr.  Tasker  says,  to  learn  to 
stand  the  effort  of  voluntary  attention,  because  there  are  always 
disagreeable  things  that  must  be  done,  and  also  to  teach  our- 
selves to  enjoy  attending  (that  is,  to  attend  involuntarily  with- 
out effort)  to  the  right  things.  Pages  ioo-ii5of  James's  "Talks 
to  Teachers  on  Psychology "  may  well  be  read  in  connection^ 
with  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MEMORY 

"You  said  last  time,  Mr.  Elkin,  that  you  had 
noticed  one  more  general  factor  that  influenced 
human  nature.     What  is  it?" 

"I'll  tell  you  the  exact  observation,  though  it  puts 
me   in   rather  a  bad   light.     About  three  weeks  ago, 
Mrs.  Elkin  gave  me  a  letter  to  mail,  telling  me  at  the 
time  that  it  was  very  important.      'When  the  sense- 
impression  of  the  post-office  reaches  your  mind,  you 
react  by   putting  that   letter   in   the  box,'  said   she. 
Four  days  later  I  came  home  to  find  my  wife's  human 
nature   decidedly   upset.      'You   look    cross,'    said    I. 
'No   wonder,'    said   she.     'I  wrote   Miss   Northrup  to 
come   here   to-day   and   to-morrow   to   make   up  that 
dress  I  bought.     She  didn't  come,  or  answer  my  letter 
even.'     'I'm  sorry,'  said  I,  'but  human  nature  can't 
always  be  relied  on,  and  women  have  rarely  any  sense 
of  business   matters.'     I  pulled  off  my  overcoat  and 
took  the   newspaper  out  of  my  pocket.      As  I  spread 
it  open,  a  letter  fell  on  the  floor.      My  wife  stooped 
to   pick   it   up.     'You   never  mailed  that  letter!'  she 
cried.     'You    are    the    one    that's    to    blame.'     'By 
George!    I   guess   I   am,'    I   said.      'That's  too  bad.' 
'  Women  have  rarely  any  sense  of  business!'  said  she. 
'You  might  at  least  pay  enough  attention  to  things 
to    have    your    wife    look     presentable    at    a    party.' 
'Wife,'  said  I,  'let  us  not  dally  with  the  moral  aspect 

76 


The  Human  Nature  Club  77 

of  this  case,  but  let  us  treat  it  as  an  interesting  fact 
of  human  nature.  Why  did  I  fail  to  react  to  the  sight 
of  that  post-office?  I  did  see  it,  I  did  attend  to  it; 
I  did  have  previous  knowledge  to  inform  me  that  it 
was  the  post-office.'  'You're  an  unfeeling  wretch,' 
said  she.  'The  least  you  can  do  is  to  buy  me  another 
dress."  'Inhibit  that  idea,'  said  I;  'check  it  at  once. 
I  failed  to  react,  evidently,  because  of  a  failure  of 
memory.  The  idea  of  a  letter  to  be  mailed  did  not 
come  up  in  my  mind.  We  must  talk  about  memory 
at  some  future  meeting  of  the  club  and  find  out  how 
to  improve  mine.'  'You  remember  that  new  dress 
idea,'  growled  she,  but  she  couldn't  help  laughing. 

"So  memory  is  my  new  general  factor.  We  may 
feel  and  assimilate  and  attend  to  a  situation — e.  g., 
a  post-office — but  if  it  doesn't  call  up  the  right  idea 
to  us,  the  reaction  will  not  take  place.  And  the  kind 
of  reaction  that  takes  place  will  depend  on  the  idea 
that  is  called  up.  Take  four  men  walking  by  the 
post-office.  Let  them  all  see  it;  let  all  have  pre- 
vious experiences  enabling  them  to  recognize  it;  let 
them  all  attend  to  it.  One  remembers,  'I  have  a  let- 
ter to  post';  another  thinks,  'I  need  some  stamps'; 
another,  'The  postmaster  owes  me  five  dollars'; 
while  the  fourth  has  no  special  ideas.  Their  reactions 
will  all  differ.  Remembering  is  clearly  an  important 
part  of  human  nature,  especially  for  a  married  man 
whose  wife  writes  important  letters.  I  hope  to  get 
some  new  light  on  our  memories  to-night." 

"You  need  some  new  light  on  the  folly  of  making 
weak  jokes,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin. 

"I'm  glad,"  said  Mr.  Tasker,  "that  you've  started 


yB  The  Human  Nature  Club 

up  this  topic,  for  I  also  had  thought  of  these  ideas 
which  come  up  in  our  minds  as  factors  in  determining 
our  reactions.     Let's  see  what  we  can  find  out  about 

them." 

"If  you're  going  to  give  the  name  'memories'  to 
ideas  that  are  called  up  in  our  minds,  it  seems  to  me 
that  you  ought  to  have  some  other  word  for  a  sort 
of  thing  most  people  would  call  memory.  For 
instance,  we  say  that  we  remember  how  to  play  the 
piano,  to  swim,  to  dance,  to  play  football.  But  here 
ideas  aren't  called  up  at  all." 

"Just   what   does    happen    in    those    cases,   Miss 

Atwell?" 

"If  I've  observed  rightly,  what  happens  is  this:  We 
learn  to  respond  to  certain  situations  by  certain  acts. 
In  playing  the  piano,  one  learns  to  make  certain  arm 
and  finger  movements  at  the  sight  of  certain  notes. 
Now,  this  association  or  connection  of  an  act  with 
a  sense-impression  is  more  or  less  permanent,  so  that 
when  a  day  or  a  year  later  we  see  those  same  notes 
we  are  able  to  make  the  same  movements.  Acts 
once  learned  can  be  repeated  later  on,  just  as  ideas 
once   in   mind   can   later  be    remembered,   be   called 

up." 

"Why  not  keep  the  word  'memories'  for  both,  but, 
call   this   thing  'memories  of  how  to  do  things,' and 
the  other  just  'memories?'  " 

"I  should  say  that  it  would  be  as  well  not  to  have 
any  particular  name,  but  just  to  call  the  facts  what 
they  are — namely,  'permanent  tendencies  to  act  in  old 
ways' ;  or  better  still,  'permanent  associations  between 
situations  and  acts." 


The  Human  Nature  Club  79 

"Let's  do  that,  then.  Has  any  one  any  remarks 
to  make  about  these  permanent  associations?  Miss 
Atwell." 

"There  are  two  things  which  I  thought  about  in 
connection  with  them,  two  respects  in  which  they 
seem  to  differ  from  regular  memories.  In  the  first 
place,  whereas  in  remembering  the  name  of  a  place, 
or  the  meaning  of  a  word,  or  anything  of  that  sort, 
you  either  do  remember  it  or  do  forget  it,  in  these 
permanent  associations  you  may  neither  remember 
nor  yet  forget.  You  may  do  something  part  way 
between.  For  instance,  next  spring  I  shall  remember 
how  to  play  tennis.  I  shall  not  play  as  well  as  last 
fall,  nor  so  poorly  as  when  I  first  began  to  learn. 
The  associations  formed  between  seeing  the  ball 
come  at  a  certain  speed  and  angle,  and  moving  my 
body  in  certain  ways,  will  not  be  so  perfect  as  in  the 
fall,  but  will  by  no  means  be  entirely  annihilated. 
I  can  relearn,  can  get  back  to  my  old  'form'  in  a  short 
time. 

In  the  second  place,  we  seem  to  learn  these  things 
when  we  are  not  doing  them.  If  you  start  to  learn 
any  physical  game,  you  will  find  that  very  often 
indeed  you  do  better  after  a  day  away  from  the  game 
than  you  did  the  last  time  right  at  the  end  of  practice. 
People  even  say,  you  know,  that  we  learn  to  skate  in 
summer  and  swim  in  winter,  though  that  isn't  true. 
But  a  day  or  so  without  practice  often  seems  to  help 
rather  than  hurt.  I  suppose  the  nerve-cells  somehow 
grow  to  fit  their  new  activities.  That  may  possibly 
be  true  of  our  regular  memories.  Some  people  do  say 
that  things  learned  just  before  going  to  bed  are  bet- 


8o  The  Human  Nature  Club 

ter  remembered  the  next  forenoon  than  if  you  learned 
them  that  day." 

"I  wonder  whether  your  first  point,  that  associa- 
tions between  idea  and  idea  are  either  totally  present 
or  totally  absent,  while  associations  between  idea 
and  act  are  of  all  grades  of  strength,  will  really  hold 
true.  Although  one  seems  not  to  be  able  to  call  up 
an  idea  at  all  when  he  has  forgotten  it,  yet  he  might 
relearn  the  thing  in  a  shorter  time.  I'd  like  to  try 
an  experiment  with  you  on  that.  But  wait  till  we  get 
through  to-night,  and  I'll  tell  you  my  scheme." 

Since  it  took  a  number  of  weeks  to  finish  the  experiments 
which  Arthur  devised,  the  Editor  takes  the  liberty  of  recount- 
ing instead  of  them  some  facts  which  Professor  Ebbinghaus 
found  to  be  true. 

Professor  Ebbinghaus  made  out  a  set  of  lists  of  nonsense 
syllables  like  this:  rig  tab  lud  sem  gat  dov petn  rol  zin  tuf,  etc. 
He  would  then  read  over  one  of  these  lists  as  many  times  as 
would  enable  him  to  repeat  it  from  memory,  counting  the  num- 
ber of  times  it  took.  He  would  then  relearn  the  same  list  after 
ten  minutes,  and  see  how  many  readings  were  needed  this 
time.  With  other  lists  of  equal  difficulty  he  would  do  the  same 
thing,  only  waiting,  say  thirty  minutes  before  relearning.  With 
other  lists,  he  would  wait  an  hour;  with  others,  eight  hours, 
etc.  He  found  that  even  when  he  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
the  thing,  he  could  relearn  it  in  a  shorter  time.  At  the  end 
of  an  hour,  about  half  the  original  number  of  readings  would 
suffice;  at  the  end  of  nine  hours,  two-thirds  the  number  of 
original  readings;  at  the  end  of  a  month,  four-fifths. 

This  shows  that  the  permanent  effects  of  learning  ideas 
really  do  not  vanish  suddenly,  but  wear  away  gradually,  just  as 
do  the  permanent  effects  oi  learning  to  dance,  swim  or  play 
tennis. 

"Let's  change  our  usual  plan  a  bit  to-night,"  said 
Mr.  Tasker,  "and   first  see  what  questions  we'd   like 


The  Human  Nature  Club  8i 

to  have  answered  about  this  calling  up  of  ideas. 
Then  we  can  bring  up  observations  to  help  us  answer 
them,  and  perhaps  I  can  tell  you  of  some  observa- 
tions by  scientific  men  which  I've  come  across.  Of 
course  a  big  part  of  teaching  is  getting  ideas  to  come 
up  in  pupil's  minds  on  the  right  occasions,  so  I've 
made  it  my  business  to  look  into'this  matter." 

"The  first  question  would  naturally  be,  'What 
happens  in  the  nerve-cells  when  one  thing  calls  up 
another?'  wouldn't  it?" 

"I'd  like  to  know  what  makes  people  differ  so 
much  in  their  ability  to  remember." 

"And  I'd  like  to  know  how  to  improve  mine," 
added  Mr.  Elkin. 

"I  know  a  man  who  can  remember  people's  names 
wonderfully  well,  but  his  memory  isn't  extraordinary 
in  other  lines.      I'd  like  that  explained." 

"Why  did  I  remember  things  when  I  had  the  fever 
that  I  supposed  I'd  utterly  forgotten?" 

"Now  is  the  time  for  the  question  I  asked  at  our 
first  meeting,  'Why  do  some  old  people  remember 
things  that  happened  sixty  years  back  better  than 
things  that  happened  the  day  before?'  " 

"Are  there  any  more  questions?"  said  Miss  Clark. 
"If  not,  who  can  answer  the  first  question?" 

"I  have  a  book  here,"  said  Mr.  Tasker,  "whichX^ 
answers  it,  I  think.  I'll  read  you  what  it  says. 
'  When  two  elementary  brain-processes  have  been  active 
together  or  in  immediate  succession^  one  of  them,  on  recur- 
ring, tends  to  propagate  its  excitement  into  the  other. ' 
That  is  given  as  the  reason  why  ideas  call  up  each 
other.     By  brain-processes  the  author  means  commo- 


82  The  Human  Nature  Club 

tions  in  nerve-cells.  He  would  explain  the  fact  that 
4X9  makes  us  think  36,  by  saying  that  the  brain-pro- 
cess which  gives  us  the  idea  4X9  had  in  the  past  been 
connected  with  the  brain-process  giving  us  the  idea 
36.  This  connection  is  more  or  less  permanent,  so 
that  when  .for  any  reason  the  4X9  cell  commotions 
are  aroused  they  set  off  also  the  36  commotion. 
'They  propagate  their  excitement,'  as  he  says.  We 
saw  at  our  first  meeting  that  our  automatic  perform- 
ances were  due  to  the  existence  of  connections 
between  nerve-cells;  we've  seen  that  our  unlearned 
abilities  were  due  to  such  connections  which  were 
born  in  us;  we've  seen  that  the  way  a  man  meets  any 
situation  depends  on  the  sum  total  of  connections  in 
his  brain,  and  we  now  see  that  the  presence  of  these 
memories  or  ideas  that  are  called  up  is  due  to  the  per- 
sistence of  such  connections  and  the  arousal  of  one 
set  of  nerve-cells  by  another.  Unfortunately  for  Mr. 
Elkin,  the  cell  commotion  corresponding  to  the  idea 
'letter  to  be  put  in  box*  wasn't  aroused  by  the  cell 
commotion  corresponding  to  the  sight  of  the  post- 
office.      The  circuit  was  cut  off,    was   not  complete." 

"You  would  say,  then,  that  things  which  have  been 
thought  of  together  call  each  other  up,  and  that  the 
reason  for  this  is  that  when  two  sets  of  nerve-cells 
have  been  active  in  connection,  one  set,  if  somehow 
excited  to  activity,  tends  to  arouse  activity  in  the 
other  also;  that  we  think  of  D,  E  after  A,  B,  C  for 
just  the  same  reason  that  we  put  one  arm  into  a  coat- 
sleeve  after  we  put  the  other  in."  ): 

"Yes.  And  the  reason  that  we  forget,  that  is,  that 
an  object  doesn't  always  call  up  what  it  has  been  with 


The  Human  Nature  Club  83 

before,  is  that  these  nervous  connections  fade  with 
time." 

"I  can  see  that,  but  I  don't  see  just  what  decides 
which  particular  associate  an  idea  shall  call  up.  Take 
the  word  'post-office.'  When  you  said  it,  I  thought 
of  John  Wanamaker.  Now,  I  have  had  hundreds  of 
ideas  in  my  mind  at  one  time  or  another  in  connection 
with  that  word  'post-office.'  Why  did  that  particular 
one  come  up?" 

"I  should  say  that  the  one  that  had  been  with  it 
oftenest  would  stand  the  best  chance,"  said  Mr.  Hen- 
shaw.  "A  man's  name  is  likely  to  make  us  think  of 
his  face;  i,  2,  3,  4,  5  makes  us  think  of  6;  10X2 
makes  us  think  of  20;  Manila  makes  us  think  of 
Dewey." 

"But  I  had  thought  of  other  things  in  connection 
with  the  post-office  more  times  than  I  had  of  Wana- 
maker. I  think  it  was  because  day  before  yesterday 
Fred  Collins  and  I  were  talking  about  some  of  the 
things  he  did  as  postmaster.  Recency  often  deter- 
mines which  associate  shall  come  up,  doesn't  it?" 

"When  Mr.  Henshaw  just  said  i,  2,  3,  4,  5, 
I  thought,  not  of  6,  but  of  a  problem  my  class  had 
to-day  which  gave  that  answer.  The  children  thought 
it  funny  to  get  just  those  figures  in  that  order.  That 
was  recency,  surely." 

"It  might  have  been  something  more  than  that. 
The  way  the  children  noticed  the  combination  of 
numbers  probably  made  a  fairly  emphatic,  vivid 
impression.  When  Mr.  Henshaw  said  Manila,  I  didn't 
think  q'^  Dewey,  but  of  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine 
who  died  there.     It  was  long  ago,  so  that  recency  had 


84  The  Human  Nature  Club 

nothing  to  do  with  bringing  that  idea  up.  Probably 
the  importance  of  the  experience  which  connected 
the  word  'Manila'  with  the  thought  of  that  friend 
made  it  suggest  her  just  now." 

f'  "We'll  have  to  put  it  this  way,  then:  Other  things 
being  equal,  the  most  habitually,  the  most  recently, 
and  the  most  vividly  connected  idea  will  be  the  one 
called  up.  And  let's  by  next  week  have  a  number  of 
actual  cases  of  thoughts  called  up  and  test  this  rule." 

"I'd  like  to  give  one  case  now,  Mr.  Henshaw, 
because  it  doesn't  seem  to  fit  any  of  these  three," 
said  Mrs.  Elkin.  "I  know  a  woman  who  has  occa- 
sional gloomy  periods,  fits  of  very  blue  blues.  Now, 
if  you  should  say  to  her  then,  i,  2,  3,  4,  5,  she 
wouldn't  think  of  any  common  associate  of  those 
numbers  or  of  anything  recent  or  vivid.  She'd  prob- 
ably sigh  and  say,  'Five  years  is  more  than  I  want  to 
live.'  If  you  spoke  of  10X2,  she  wouldn't  think 
of  20.  Oh,  no!  She'd  say,  'I  believe  I  have  ten 
hundred  times  as  much  trouble  as  any  one  else.' 
Whatever  idea  came  up,  you  can  be  sure  it  would  be 
a  gloomy  one.  And  I  think  we  are  all  made  a  good 
deal  after  that  same  plan.  If  our  mind  has  for  the 
time  being  a  gay  or  sad  or  bitter  attitude,  the  ideas 
which  are  called  up  will  conform  to  it.  They  seem 
to  be  called  up  in  harmony  with  our  emotional  tone." 

"That  t's  true  in  my  case." 

"It  is  with  all  of  us,  I  guess,"  said  Mr.  Elkin. 
"We'll  have  to  add  that  as  a  fourth  rule." 

"We  ought  to  remember,  also,"  said  Mr.  Tasker, 
"that  in  all  this  we've  been  having  in  mind  our  natural, 
spontaneous   flow   of   ideas,  the   way  ideas  are  called 


The  Human  Nature  Club  85 

up  apart  from  our  own  definite  search  for  them. 
When  a  man  starts  in  to  think  about  something  with 
a  purpose,  he  doesn't  just  let  ideas  come  naturally, 
but  he  controls  the  process.  The  case  may  be  differ- 
ent then.      Let's  bear  this  in  mind. " 

"Is  any  one  ready  to  answer  those  questions  which 
came  up?  Perhaps  we'd  better  leave  them  till  next 
time,  and  be  surer  of  our  opinions." 


/ 


CHAPTER   VIII 

TRAINS    OF   THOUGHT 

"We  have  some  questions  left  over  from  last  time. 
The  first  was,  'What  makes  people  differ  so  much  in 
their  abilities  to  remember?'     Who  can  answer  it?" 

"I  think  I  can,"  replied  Miss  Atwell;  "that  is.  if 
you'll  give  me  time.  People  differ,  at  least  the  chil- 
dren at  school  do,  in  two  ways.  First,  there  are 
some  in  whose  minds  all  sorts  of  connections  between 
ideas  stay  much  more  firmly.  I  once  had  a  girl  who 
would  remember  a  short  poem  from  a  single  reading. 
Everything  that  she  saw  or  heard  seemed  to  make  an 
almost  indelible  impression  on  her.  She  could 
remember  one  thing  as  well  as  another.  Her  general 
retentiveness  was  surely  twice  as  good  as  that  of  any 
other  child  in  the  class. 

"Second,  there  are  some  in  whose  minds  certain 
things  stay  firmly,  though  other  things  don't.  One 
of  my  boys  will  rarely  forget  anything  you  tell  him 
about  steam  engines  or  railroads,  though  he  forgets 
his  arithmetic  and  spelling  on  the  slightest  provocation. 

"Now,  the  first  sort  of  difference — that  is,  in  gen- 
era/ retentiveness — is  due  to  some  general  difference 
in  the  quality  of  the  nerve-cells  in  the  different  peo- 
ple. I  looked  the  question  up  in  Mr.  Tasker's  psy- 
chology book.  Professor  James  says  there:  'Those 
persons  ....  who  retain  names,  dates,  and  ad- 
dresses, anecdotes,  gossip,  poetry,  quotations,  and  all 

86 


The  Human  Nature  Club  87 

sorts  of  miscellaneous  facts,  without  an  effort,  have 
desultory  memory  in  a  high  degree,  and  certainly  owe 
it  to  the  utiusual  tenacity  of  their  brain  substance ' 

*'But  the  second  sort  of  difference  is  due  to  interest 
in  certain  facts  which  makes  us  attend  to  them,  think 
about  them,  connect  them  in  our  minds  with  a  great 
many  other  things.  For  any  sort  of  facts,  that  person 
will  have  the  better  memory  who  cares  about  them, 
thinks  them  over  and  over.  So  with  my  boy  with  the 
engines;  so  with  the  politician  who  remembers  names; 
so  with  the  business  man  who  remembers  prices.  This 
idea  again  I  got  from  that  book." 

"Would  that  explain  your  question.  Miss  Clark, 
about  the  man  with  a  good  memory  for  names,  but 
not  for  other  things?" 

"I  don't  know.  He  wasn't  a  politician,  but  he 
did,  I  fancy,  pride  himself  on  this  ability  of  his,  and 
so  take  an  interest  in  names  and  think  about  them." 

"Don't  forget,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin,  "to  tell  Mr. 
Elkin  how  to  improve  his.  I've  thought  of  making 
him  learn  twenty  lines  of  poetry  every  day." 

"That  would  be  making  him  suffer  without  doing 
him  any  good,"  replied  Miss  Atwell.  "That  method 
has  been  tried  and  found  wanting.  It  won't  even 
make  him  remember  prose  any  more  easily,  much  less 
to  mail  letters.  I  know  of  a  gentleman's  training 
himself  this  way  on  'Paradise  Lost'  for  thirty-eight 
days.  He  tested  his  memory  before  and  after  by 
keeping  record  of  the  time  it  took  him  to  learn  some 
other    poetry,     and    he    didn't    improve.'      In   fact, 

'See  James,  "  Psychology,"  Vol.  I,  p.  667,  for  a  full  account  of  the  experi- 
ment. 


/: 


88  The  Human  Nature  Club 

I  don't  believe  that  our  general  retentiveness  can  be 
improved.     James  says  it  can't." 

"How  do  people  improve  so  much,  then?"  said 
Miss  Clark.  "Educated  people  certainly  learn  more 
quickly  than  uneducated." 

"That  could  be  due  to  several  things.  First  of  all, 
they  improve  in  attentiveness,  power  of  concentration, 
and  that  improves  their  ability  to  learn  quickly.  Sec- 
ondly, they  find  out  better  ways  of  learning.  They 
learn  the  main  points  first,  and  then  fill  in  the  details, 
instead  of  learning  bit  by  bit.  They  also  learn  by 
recalling  from  within  instead  of  just  repeating  a  thing 
over  and  over.  Finally,  they  develop  interests  in 
things,  think  about  them,  have  a  lot  of  connections 
ready  for  each  new  fact,  and  so  systematize  their 
memories.  You  folks  should  read  the  chapter  on 
memory  in  James's  'Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psy- 
chology.' " 

"There  are  two  more  questions,  one  about  remem- 
bering long-forgotten  facts  when  one  has  a  fever,  the 
other  about  old  people  calling  up  incidents  of  their 
childhood  and  forgetting  things  that  happened  only 
a  few  days  before." 

"I  asked  Dr.  Lelghton  about  that,"  said  Mrs. 
Ralston.  "He  said  that  as  to  the  first  point  he 
didn't  know  just  why,  but  that  somehow  or  other  the 
disturbances  in  the  brain  due  to  the  fever  started  into 
activity  cell-connections  which  had  been  for  a  long 
while  disconnected  from  the  daily  happenings  in  our 
brain.  As  to  the  second  point,  he  said  that  as  people 
grew  old  their  nerve-cells  often  became  less  easily 
aroused  into  action,  and  that  this  fact  might  explain 


The  Human  Nature  Club  89 

old  people's  forgetting  recent  events.  The  cropping 
out  of  memories  of  childhood,  he  said,  might  be  due 
to  the  waning  of  a  lot  of  customary  habits  of  adult 
thought.  When  these  become  weakened,  the  old, 
long-unused  connections  may  again  be  active.  He 
said,  however,  that  this  was  only  a  guess,  and  that 
other  guesses  equally  probable  could  be  made." 

"I  have  three  rather  interesting  observations  that 
may  be  worth  reporting,  two  of  cases  of  extraordinary 
retentiveness,  and  one  of  almost  supernatural  memory 
in  a  fever  patient.  I'm  not  sure  of  the  truth  of  the 
last,  though  I  found  it  in  a  reputable  book.  The 
first  two  cases  are  interesting  because  they  show  that 
a  good  memory  may  go  with  very  low  general 
mental  ability. 

"A  young  man  who  was  feeble-minded  and  had 
only  with  difficulty  learned  to  talk  and  to  read,  could, 
'if  two  or  three  minutes  were  allowed  him  to  peruse 
an  octavo  page,  then  spell  the  single  words  out  from 
memory  as  well  as  if  the  book  lay  open  before  him.' 
He  did  this  as  well  with  a  Latin  book  he  had  never 
seen,  whose  subject  and  language  were  both  unknown 
to  him.* 

"A  certain  Pennsylvania  farmer  'could  remember 
the  day  of  the  week  on  which  any  date  had  fallen  for 
forty-two  years  past,  and  also  the  kind  of  weather  it 
was  and  what  he  was  doing  on  each  of  more  than 
fifteen  thousand  days. '^ 

"  'A  boy  at  the  age  of  four  suffered  fracture  of  the 

'Drobisch,  "Empirische  Psychologic,"  p.  gs,  quoted  by  James,  Vol.  1, 
p.  660. 

^Quoted  by  James  from  Heukle,  "Journal  of  Speculative  Philosophy," 
January,  1871. 


90 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


skull,  for  which  he  underwent  the  operation  of  the 
trepan.  He  was  at  the  time  in  a  state  of  perfect 
stupor,  and  after  his  recovery  retained  no  recollection 
either  of  the  accident  or  of  the  operation.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen,  however,  during  the  delirium  of  fever, 
he  gave  his  mother  an  account  of  the  operation,  and 
the  persons  who  were  present  at  it,  with  a  correct 
description  of  their  dress,  and  other  minute  particu- 
lars. He  had  never  been  observed  to  allude  to  it 
before,  and  no  means  were  known  by  which  he  could 
have  acquired  the  circumstances  which  he  men- 
tioned.' '" 

"Is  that  all  concerning  these  special  questions. 
If  so,  we'll  go  on.  We  are  to  each  describe  some 
spontaneous  train  of  thought  which  we  have  had  this 
week,  and  try  to  see  in  each  case  why  the  ideas  were 
called  up.     Will  you  be  the  first,  Miss  Fairbanks?" 

"I  was  on  a  trolley-car  which  was  going  very  slowly, 
much  to  my  disgust.  I  thought  of  the  speed  at  which 
I  had  heard  that  the  cars  in  New  York  ran.  Then 
I  thought  about  the  trip  to  New  York  which  I  am 
contemplating,  and  wondered  whether  I  could  there 
get  the  exact  shades  of  cheese-cloth  that  I  want  for 
the  costumes  in  the  tableaux." 

"Suppose  you  explain  that  yourself." 

"I  should  say  that  my  thinking  of  the  rate  of  the 
New  York  cars  after  thinking  of  the  slow  rate  of  the 
one  I  was  on  was  just  a  case  of  two  things  having 
been  together  once,  and  so  tending  to  call  each  other 
up.      Then  out  of  the  whole  thought,  'fast  rate  of  cars 


4390 


'Quoted  from  ;\bercrombie,  "Intellectual  Powers"  by  Carpenter,  on  p. 
ofthe  '  Mental  Physiology." 


The  Human  Nature  Club  91 

in  New  York,'  I  attended  mainly  to  the  'New  York,' 
and  it  called  up  my  trip  because,  though  hundreds  of 
other  things  have  been  connected  in  my  mind  with 
New  York,  this  particular  thing  had  recency  and 
vividness  and  interest  in  its  favor.  Now,  why  I  then 
thought  of  that  cheese-cloth  I  can't  say,  but  possibly 
I've  been  thinking  of  it  so  much  that  it's  at  present 
predominant  in  my  mind  and  tends  to  come  up  on  all 
sorts  of  occasions." 

"Is  there  anything  more  to  add?  If  not,  will  you 
please  be  the  next,  Miss  Atwell?" 

"I  was  clipping  the  dead  leaves  off  our  fern,  when 
I  suddenly  thought  of  the  quantities  of  wild  ferns 
growing  in  front  of  our  cottage  last  summer." 

"Will  you  stop  a  minute,  Miss  Atwell?"  asked  Mr. 
Tasker.     "How  do  you  explain  that?" 

"I  was  going  to  ask  the  rest  of  you.  The  sight 
of  that  fern,  or  the  thought  of  cutting  off  its  dead 
leaves  had  never  been  connected  in  my  mind  with 
anything.  In  fact,  I  can't  see  that  the  thought, 
'This  car  goes  very  slowly,'  had  ever  before  been 
connected  in  Miss  Fairbanks'  mind  with  the  thought 
that  in  New  York  cars  go  fast." 

"Can  any  one  explain  this  instance?"  said  the 
chairman.  "It  certainly  is  a  fact  that  seeing  one  dog 
often  makes  us  think  of  some  other  dog,  seeing  one 
senator  of  some  other  senator,  etc.,  just  as  one  car- 
speed  reminded  Miss  Fairbanks  of  another,  and  one 
fern  reminded  Miss  Atwell  of  others.  Yet  in  lots  of 
these  cases,  if  not  in  all,  the  two  things  haven't  gone 
together." 

After  a  brief  pause,   Mr.   Tasker  spoke.      "If  you 


Q2  The  Human  Nature  Club 

are  baffled,   it's  not  your  fault.     I  should  be  if  we 
hadn't  been  all  through  this  thing  in  college.     The 
point  is  that  not  all  of  your  idea  is  operative,  counts, 
plays  a  part  in  calling  up  the  next.      In  Miss  Atwell's 
case  the  sight  of  the   scissors,   the  deadness  of  the 
leaves,   the   peculiar   properties   of  that   fern  cut  no 
figure.     It  was  just  the  general  fern  appearance,  or 
still   more   likely,    just  the   word  fern,   that  cut  any 
figure   in   calling  up  the  next  idea.      Now,  the  word 
fern  or  the  fern  appearance  had  been  connected  with 
all    those    ferns   by   the   summer    cottage,    had    been 
together  with  them  very  often,  had  been  their  habit- 
ual associate  all  the  summer. 

"There   can  be   all   gradations   in   the   amount  of 
any    idea   which    shall    be    operative    in    calling    up 
another.     When  you  think  'William  McKinley,'  and 
then  think  of    his  face,   the  whole  of  the  first  idea 
counts;  when  you  think,  as   I  did  this  week,  of  how 
Fred  Nelson  looked  last  Fourth  of  July  playing  first 
base,  and  then  think  that  you  owe  him  a  letter,  only 
a    part    of    the    first    idea — i.  e.,    the  name  or  face — 
counts;  when  you  think  of   a  football,   and  then   of 
a    balloon,    only  a  fraction   of   the   first   idea   counts, 
probably  its  rounded,  inflated   character.      A  part  oi 
the  first  idea  is  all  of  it  that  need  have  gone  with  the 
second  idea.     In  college  we  were  taught  to  call  those 
cases  where  a  good   deal   of  the   first   idea   had   been 
with  the  second,  cases  of  association  by  contiguity,  and 
the  cases  where  only  some  few  parts  or  elements  of 
the  first  idea  had  been  with  the  second,  cases  of  associ- 
ation by  similarity.     I  don't,  however,  think   much  oi 
these  names." 


The  Human  Nature  Club  93 

"I  take  it  we  can  all  see  now  how  one  thing  mayV,^^ 
follow  another  in  our  minds  because  it  has  gone  with  / 
some  part  of  the  first  idea.      So  we'll  let  you  continue, 

.  Miss  Atwell. " 

"Well,  thinking  of  the  ferns  and  cottage  made  me 
see  in  my  mind's  eye  a  sunshiny  day,  and  then  a  pic- 
ture of  the  blue  bay  we  see  from  the  cottage,  and  then 
of  a  storm  on  it,  and  then  of  myself  in  a  boat,  and 
then  of  a  friend  bailing  out  the  water.  Of  course  all 
these  are  cases  of  things  which  have  gone  with  one 
another.  The  storm  picture  after  the  blue  bay  is, 
I  suppose,  a  case  where  just  the  'bay'  counts.  The 
vividness  of  the  original  experience  probably  made 
the  boat  picture  come  up." 

"Miss  Clark,  what  was  your  train  of  thought?" 
"I  tried  to  catch  myself  and  see  what  I'd  been 
thinking  about,  but  I  couldn't.  Whenever  I'd  think 
of  doing  so  I'd  find  I'd  been  thinking  about  nothing. 
I  don't  understand  you  people  who  have  all  these 
ideas  running  through  your  minds  all  the  time. 
I  don't  believe  I  do.  Finally  I  decided  that  if 
I  couldn't  get  a  natural  train  of  thought,  I'd  just 
make   one   come.     I   said   to   myself,  I   will   think  of 

,  a  pile  of  one  hundred  dollar  bills  six  inches  high  on 

,  that  table,  all  belonging  to  me,  and  see  what 
thoughts  come  afterward.  I  thought  of  getting 
a  number  of  things  and  of  going  to  Europe.  I 
couldn't  at  the  end  remember  just  what  I  did  think." 
"I'm  afraid  that  your  observation  isn't  exactly 
suitable  for  discussion,   then,"   said  Arthur:  "so  I'll 

,  call  on  you  for  your  report,  Tasker. " 

"Tuesday  night  I  dined  with  the  Ritters.      I'll  say 


94  The  Human  Nature  Club 

now,  as  it's  important  for  wliat  comes  later,  that  we 
talked  considerably  about  various  literary  topics.  On 
leaving  the  car  on  the  way  home  I  found  that  it  was 
raining,  and  on  crossing  Milbank  Street  I  felt  the 
dampness  through  my  thin  shoes.  About  thirty  or 
forty  seconds  later  I  found  myself  thinking  of  the 
lines  Othello  speaks  just  before  he  kills  himself: 

"Say  that  in  Aleppo  once 
When  a  malignant  and  a  turbaned  Turk 
Beat  a  Venetian  and  traduced  the  state, 
I  took  by  the  throat  the  circumcised  dog 
And  smote  him,  thus." 

Luckily  I  thought  of  the  club,  and  traced  back  the 
train  of  thoughts  which  connected  these  two  very 
different  ideas.  It  was  this  way.  Noticing  that  my 
feet  were  getting  wet  called  up  the  scene  in  George 
Eliot's  'Silas  Marner'  where  Geoffrey  goes  out  into 
the  storm  in  his  dancing-pumps.  I  then  thought  of 
Brunetiere's  opinion  that  George  Eliot's  novels  were 
realistic  in  a  truer  sense  than  were  Zola's.  Then 
came  the  memory  that  a  year  ago,  when  I  was  in 
Cambridge  studying,  Brunetiere  had  lectured  on 
Moliere;  then  the  memory  that  my  brother  had  not 
been  able  to  understand  the  spoken  French  well 
enough  to  give  me  a  definite  opinion  of  Brunetiere; 
then  the  thought  of  a  certain  man  who  had  gotten  the 
tickets  for  my  brother  and  several  ideas  about  this 
man.  Then  came  the  idea  that  if  Brunetiere  had 
been  a  fool,  he  might  have  paid  English  people 
a  banale  compliment  by  comparing  Moliere  with 
Shakspere,  and  then  the  idea  that  perhaps  some  of 
the    fine    things    in    Shakspere    which   we    esteem   as 


The  Human  Nature  Club  95 

wonderful  insights  into  human  nature  may  really  have 
been  in  the  author's  mind  only  barefaced  devices  for 
making  a  hit.  Finally  came  the  thought  of  Othello's 
last  speech  as  a  possible  case  of  this,  and  then 
I  started  repeating  the  lines. 

"Now  remember  that  all  this  was  totally  sponta- 
neous. If  I  hadn't  thought  of  the  club,  and  so  traced 
the  thing  back  and  repeated  it  and  so  fixed  it, 
I  shouldn't  by  the  time  I  reached  the  house  have 
known  that  I'd  ever  had  any  of  these  ideas.  It  was 
almost  like  a  dream." 

"Your  thoughts  seem  much  more  complicated  than 
the  others  have  been.  They  are  more  general,  are 
thoughts  'of  the  fact  that  so  and  so  is  so  and  so,' 
instead  of  being  thoughts  of  simple  things.  They 
seem  more  like  our  controlled  thinking." 

"Yes;  and  they  seemed  to  me  to  show  another 
thing.  They  show  a  tendency  to  cling  to  a  certain 
system  or  family  of  ideas,  in  this  case  a  literary  sys- 
tem. The  thought  of  George  Eliot  didn't  call  up  any 
of  the  Georges  I've  known  or  any  of  the  Eliots,  but 
called  up  a  literary  associate.  Even  after  my  thoughts 
drifted  to  the  characeristics  of  the  man  who  got  the 
tickets,  they  swung  back  again  to  literary  matters. 
I  should  say,  as  a  rash  guess,  that  my  after-dinner 
talk  had  aroused  the  literary  part  of  me,  and  that 
therefore  ideas  from  that  quarter  were  more  likely  to 
come  up  than  ideas  from  elsewhere.  If  I'd  been 
talking  about  Mrs.  A. 's  lumbago  and  Mrs.  B. 'scon- 
sumption  and  my  host's  rheumatism,  the  wetness  of 
my  feet  would  probably  have  caused  a  sort  of  patho- 
logical and  medicinal  train  of  thought.      I'm  sure  that 


g6  The  Human  Nature  Club 

with  me  things  run  in  systems,  and  the  result  of  any 
idea  depends  a  good  deal  on  the  system  it  enters." 

"I  know  that  to  be  true.  What  idea  will  come  up 
in  one's  mind  depends  on  the  general  aspect  or  flavor 
of  one's  thinking  at  the  time,  as  well  as  on  the  particu- 
lar idea  that  has  gone  before  it.  We  practically  said 
that  much  when  we  were  talking  over  the  case  of  the 
Good  Samaritan  and  others." 

"I  wonder,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "whether  the  rest 
of  you  are  like  me  in  always  having  your  thoughts 
run  in  systems  in  this  way.  I  often  think  it  is  absurd 
for  me  to  speak  of  my  'mind,'  for  I'm  sure  I  have 
a  dozen  or  more.  What  I  think  about  at  any  time  is 
sure  to  be  decided  in  great  measure  by  the  system 
I'm  in,  just  as  Tasker's  being  in  his  literary  system 
made  wet  feet  suggest  a  scene  from  a  novel  to  him. 
The  way  I  look  at  things,  my  talk,  conduct,  temper, 
and  all  vary  with  the  different  'systems.'  I  have  an 
ofifice  system,  and  when  I'm  in  that  I  look  at  every- 
thing as  copy  for  the  paper.  I  sometimes  believe  if 
I  were  dying  when  my  mind  happened  to  be  in  this 
particular  system,  I  should  not  bother  much  about  it, 
but  should  be  rather  glad  to  have  the  chance  to  de- 
scribe the  feelings  of  approaching  death,  I  have 
a  home  system;  a  summer  vacation  system,  where 
I  drop  all  traces  of  civilization  and  steal  and  poach 
like  an  Indian  without  a  trace  of  remorse;  and  so 
on  and  on.  The  remarkable  thing  is  that  I  can 
change  from  one  to  the  other  more  quickly  than  I  can 
change  my  overcoat.  But  I'm  straying  from  the  point, 
which  is  that  the  kind  of  system  you  are  in  plays 
a  large  part  in  determining  what  you  will  think  of." 


The  Human  Nature  Club  97 

"Before  we  go  on  to  the  topic  of  non-spontaneous, 
controlled  trains  of  thought,"  said  Arthur,  "it  may 
be  well  to  sum  up  what  we've  seen  so  far  this  evening. 
A  number  of  concrete  cases  of  reveries  or  trains  of 
thought,  or  associations  of  ideas,  have  enforced  the 
fact  that  thoughts  which  have  gone  together  tend  to 
call  each  other  up.  We  have  found  that  frequency, 
recency,  and  vividness  are,  as  we  thought  last  week, 
favorable  factors.  We  have  found,  also,  that  not  the 
idea  as  a  whole,  but  only  a  part  of  it,  need  have  gone 
with  the  idea  which  it  calls  up.  We  have  seen  in 
Tasker's  case,  how  mere  reverie  may  be  about  very 
general  matters,  and  that,  further,  mere  reverie  may 
be  a  good  deal  like  voluntary,  controlled  thinking. 
We  have  seen  that  the  mind  has  various  attitudes  or  sys- 
tetns^  and  that  what  idea  will  come  up  in  any  case  is 
frequently  dependent  on  what  system  or  attitude  is 
then  prevailing." 

"How  many  observed  in  themselves  cases  of  con- 
trolled, purposive  trains  of  thought?  What  was  yours, 
mother?" 

"I  was  writing  a  letter." 

"And  yours,  Mrs.  Elkin?" 

"I  was  thinking  about  where  to  go  this  summer." 

"And  yours,  Miss  Fairbanks?" 

"I  was  trying  to  devise  some  way  of  lessening  my 
budget.     I  want  to  save  some  money," 

"And  yours,  Tasker?" 

"I  was  working  out  a  problem  in  geometry  which 
I  found  in  an  English  text-book." 

"And  yours,  Mr.  Henshaw?" 

"I  was  writing  an  editorial." 


98  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"Now  I  am  going  to  surprise  you  all,"  said  Arthur, 
'by  telling  you  just  the  process  of  thinking  you  went 
through.  It  was  alike  in  all  cases,  and  it  was  this. 
You  started  out  by  fixing  your  attention  on  the 
thought  which  had  started  you  on  the  work.  If  any 
other  ideas  were  called  up  by  it,  you  took  a  sort  of 
quick  look  at  them,  and  if  they  weren't  harmonious 
witli,  useful  for,  the  general  aim  you  had  in  mind, 
you  promptly  inhibited  them,  didn't  attend  to  them 
any  longer.  If  they  did  fit,  you  attended  to  them 
and  let  them  call  up  whatever  ideas  might  come. 
And  then  re-occurred  the  same  process  of  selection. 
The  ordinary  spontaneous  flow  of  ideas  is  at  the  bot- 
tom of  voluntary,  controlled  thinking.  If  it  doesn't 
provide  any  ideas,  you  can't  do  anything  at  all.  From 
what  it  gives,  you  can  select,  and  thus  influence  the 
next  spontaneous  lot.  You  can't  have  ideas  by  want- 
ing them  ever  so  badly;  you  can  only  choose  from 
What  turn  up.      How  is  that?     Am  I  right?" 

"That's  just  about  what  happened  in  my  case," 
said  Miss  Fairbanks.  "I  started  with  the  thought, 
'How  can  I  spend  less?'  and  up  came  the  idea  of  buy- 
ing fewer  gowns.  That  brought  up  the  idea  of 
a  lovely  one  I  saw  last  week,  but  of  course  I  inhibited 
that,  and  held  on  to  the  'fewer  gowns'  idea  and  to  my 
orginal  question,  which  suggested  one  by  one  the 
ideas  'walk  to  town  instead  of  riding,'  'stop  all  candy 
and  flowers,'  'buy  no  books  or  magazines,'  stay  at 
home  in  the  summer,'  etc.  With  these  came  other 
irrelevant  ideas,  which  I  iihibited." 

"Your  description  fitsf  my  case  all  right,"  added 
Mr.  Henshaw.     "I  started  with  the  idea,   'The  duty 


The  Human  Nature  Club  99 

of  the  city  to  its  library.'  A  lot  of  ideas  came  up, 
some  mediocre,  some  totally  off  the  question.  None 
were  good.  Finally  I  reached  a  point  where  nothing 
came  at  all,  and  I  gave  it  up." 

"It  fits  mine,  too,"  said  Mr.  Tasker.  "I  looked  at 
the  problem  and  a  certain  scheme  for  doing  it  came 
to  my  mind.  I  tried  it  a  way,  but  it  soon  suggested 
another  idea  which  showed  it  to  be  unavailing;  so 
on  with  several  notions,  each  being  the  starting-point 
for  new  associations,  till  finally  one  idea  suggested 
another  which  did  work." 

"Does  my  account  satisfy  you,  too?"  said  Arthur 
to  his  mother  and  sister. 

"Yes;  how  did  you  make  such  a  brilliant  guess?" 

"I  didn't.  I  cribbed  it  from  Tasker's  book. 
Listen:  'From  the  guessing  of  newspaper  enigmas  to 
the  plotting  of  the  policy  of  an  empire  there  is  no 
other  process  than  this.  We  must  trust  to  the  laws 
of  cerebral  nature  to  present  us  spontaneously  wi 
the  appropriate  idea,  but  we  must  know  it  for  the  ri 
one  when  it  comes.'  "  ' 

"This  meeting,  friends,  has  already  been  too  long. 
I  declare  it  adjourned." 

'See  James's  "  Briefer  Course  in  Psychology,"  p.  275. 


laws 
with     I 


CHAPTER  IX 

MENTAL   IMAGERY 

"You  were  all,"  said  Arthur,  "talking  a  good 
deal  last  week  about  seeing  in  your  mind's  eye  blue 
bays  and  stormy  seas  and  people's  faces  and  what 
not.  What  do  you  mean?  I  can't  see  anything  unless 
it's  present. " 

"Yes,  you  can.  For  instance,  just  think  of  the 
way  the  breakfast-table  looks.  Close  your  eyes. 
Can't  you  see  it?" 

"No;  I  can  get  little  glimpses  of  one  thing  and 
another  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  second  apiece,  but 
I  can't  in  any  sense  see  it  as  I  do  the  real  table,  and 
I  don't  believe  you  can." 

"Certainly  I  can.  It  is  right  out  there,  not  quite 
so  big  as  it  really  is.  I  can  see  every  dish  as  clearly 
as  if  I  were  there.  I  could  put  my  finger  on  the 
very  nose  of  the  teapot  or  count  the  scallops  in  the 
fruit-dish  on  the  corner." 

"Are  all  you  people  like  that?"  asked  Arthur,  in 
amazement. 

"I'm  not  so  good  at  seeing  things  when  they  aren't 
there  as  Mrs.  Elkin  is,"  said  Miss  Atwell.  "I  can 
see  certain  very  common  things,  like  the  rooms  at 
home,  the  faces  of  my  friends;  but  I  can't  hold  them 
steadily  before  me,  or  see  everything  clearly,  and 
a  good  many  things  that  I've  seen  I  can't  call  up  at 
all,  except  about  as  Arthur  does.' 

ICX) 


The  Human  Nature  Club  lOi 

"Can't  you  see  the  picture  before  you  when  you 
read  a  description  of  a  landscape  or  house  or  person?" 
said  Mrs.  Elkin.      "For  instance,  take  this: 

By  night  we  linger'd  on  the  lawn, 

For  underfoot  the  herb  was  dry; 

And  genial  warmth;  and  o'er  the  sky 
The  silvery  haze  of  summer  drawn; 

And  calm  that  let  the  tapers  bum 

Unwavering:  not  a  cricket  chirred: 

The  brook  alone  far-off  was  heard, 
And  on  the  board  the  fluttering  urn: 

And  bats  went  round  in  fragrant  skies. 
And  wheel'd  or  lit  the  filmy  shapes 
That  haunt  the  dusk,  with  ermine  capes 

And  woolly  breasts  and  beaded  eyes; 

While  now  we  sang  old  songs  that  pealed 
From  knoll  to  knoll,  where,  couched  at  ease, 
The  white  kine  glimmer'd,  and  the  trees 

Laid  their  dark  arms  about  the  field, 

"I  get  patches  here  and  there,"  replied  Miss 
Atwell,  "but  I  can't  get  a  complete  picture,  much 
less  hold  it." 

"I  got  practically  no  visual  pictures  at  all  from 
those  words,"  said  Arthur.  "I  can  by  trying  work 
up  a  few  images." 

"I  can't  understand  your  case,  Arthur.  I  don't 
see  how  any  one  can  get  any  enjoyment  out  of  poetry 
unless  you  see  in  your  mind's  eye  the  scenes  described. 
Yet  you  do  like  poetry  better  than  I.  And  I  don't 
see  what  you  mean  by  having  an  idea,  say  of  a  steam- 
engine,  unless  you  have  a  picture  of  it  before  your 
mind's  eye." 


I02  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"When  I  think  of  a  steam-engine,"  said  Arthur, 
"I  feel  the  sound  oi  the  word  in  my  mind,  and  have 
also  vague  feelings  of  the  word's  significance — that 
is,  feelings  which,  if  I  attended  to  them  and  followed 
them  out,  would  grow  into  'big  and  heavy,  noisy  puffs 
of  steam,  wheels,  etc.,  etc'  Let  me  ask  you  some- 
thing. Can  you  get  mental  images  of  tastes  and 
smells?  Can  you  imagine  the  smell  of  cabbage  or 
onions  now?" 

"I  can't,"  said  Mr.  Tasker. 

"I  can,  easily,"  said  Miss  Clark. 

"Well,  we  seem  to  be  decidedly  different  in  this 
matter  of  ideas  of  things  when  the  things  aren't 
there,"  said  Arthur.  "Suppose  we  start  in  definitely 
to  see  just  what  each  one  of  us  feels  when  he  has 
what  we've  roughly  called  ideas.  For  instance,  let 
each  one  think,  'Dr.  Leighton  will  join  the  club  soon.^ 
What  idea  went  with  the  Dr.  LeightonV 

"I  saw  him,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin. 

"I  saw  him,  also,"  said  Miss  Clark. 

"I  saw  the  words  'Dr.  Leighton'  about  a  foot  from 
my  eyes,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw. 

"I  merely  felt  myself  articulating  the  words,"  said 
Arthur,  "and  hearing  their  sound." 

"It  was  about  so  with  me,"  said  Miss  Atwell 

"Now  think  this  thought,"  said  Arthur.  "'The 
band  played  Yankee  Doodle  Came  to  Town.'  How 
did  you  feel?" 

"I  imagined  the  sound  of  the  melody  and  the  sight 
of  a  band  with  red  coats,"  said  his  mother. 

"My  thought  of  the  'Yankee  Doodle'  was  of  its 
sound,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  103 

"I  saw  the  words,  as  before,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw. 

"I  don't  believe,"  said  Mr.  Tasker,  "that  we're 
getting  much  out  of  this,  except  that  people  differ 
very  widely  in  the  nature  of  their  ideas  or  mental 
images.  Suppose  we  leave  this,  and  let  me  write  to 
my  college  chum  to  see  whether  he  can't  tell  us  the 
important  facts  about  it.  I  don't  believe  we  know 
enough  to  clear  this  matter  up.  We  can  afford  to 
take  to-night  to  talk  over  the  results  of  previous  meet- 
ings." This  proposal  was  accepted,  and  the  meeting 
became  informal. 

The  next  week  Mr.  Tasker  brought  a  bulky  letter 
from  his  friend,  and  read  it  to  the  club. 

"J/y  Dear  Frank: 

"I  was  very  much  interested  in  what  you  wrote  me 
about  the  Human  Nature  Club,  and  am  very  glad  tt) 
send  you  some  notes  about  our  feelings  of  things  when 
they  are  not  actually  present. 

"We  have  feelings  of  sights,  sounds,  tastes,  smells, 
touches,  etc.,  when  they  are  really  present,  which  we 
may  call  sensations.  We  also  have  feelings  of  sights, 
sounds,  movements,  tastes,  smells,  touches,  etc.,  when 
they  aren't  there  in  reality,  but  only,  as  we  say,  in 
our  imaginations.  Let  us  call  these  feelings  mental 
images.  Sensations,  then,  are  feelings  of  things  that 
are  there;  mental  images  are  feelings  of  things  that 
are  not  there,  and  are  known  not  to  be.  When  one 
imagines  the  taste  of  salt,  he  knows  that  the  feeling 
he  has  isn't  the  taste  of  real  salt.  If,  though  there 
were  no  salt  there,  the  man  thought  that  he  tasted 
real  salt,  we  should  say  that  he   had  a  hallucination. 


\ 


104  The  Human  Nature  Club 

Thus  a  mental  image  differs  from  a  hallucination  in 
that  the  latter  is  a  feeling  of  a  thing  as  present,  as 
existing,  though  it  is  really  imaginary. 

"Now,  for  every  real  thing  you've  had  sensations 
of,  you  may  have  a  corresponding  mental  image.  If 
you've  seen  a  monkey,  you  may  have  a  mental  image 
(here  a  visual  one)  of  the  monkey  when  he's  out  of 
sight.  If  you've  heard  a  name  or  a  noise  or  a  tune, 
you  may  later  have  in  memory  a  mental  image  (here 
an  auditory  image)  of  that  sound  or  tune.  If  you've 
ever  played  tennis,  and  had  the  sensations  of  move- 
ment involved,  you  may  later  have  mental  images 
(here  motor  images)  of  those  movements,  and  so  on 
with  the  rest.  For  every  kind  of  sensation  there  may 
be  a  corresponding  kind  of  image.      So  we  speak  of — 

(i)    Visual  images — /.  ^.,  mental    images  of  sights. 

(2)  Auditory  or  audible  images — /.  e.,  mental 
images  of  sounds. 

(3)  Motor  images — /.  ^.,  mental  images  of  feel- 
ings of  movement. 

(4)  Tactile  or  touch  images — /.  ^. ,  mental  images 
of  touches,  pressure,  rough,  smooth,  etc. 

(5)  Gustatory  or  taste  images — /.  (?.,  mental 
images  of  tastes  and  flavors. 

(6)  Olfactory  or  smell  images — /.  e.,  mental 
images  of  odors,  etc. 

"Now,  if  we  take  any  one  of  these  sorts  of  imagi- 
nation, we  shall  find  that  people  possess  it  in  very  dif- 
ferent degrees.  In  some  it  may  be  absent.  Take 
images  of  smell.  Some  people  have  them  very  clearly, 
but  I  have  absolutely  none. 

"Again,    take    images   of    movement.     One    man 


The  Human  Nature  Club  105 

finds  that  when  he  thinks  of  a  soldier  marching,  he 
naturally  feels  images  of  movements  in  his  own  limbs. 
Another  can  only  with  difficulty  call  up  any  such 
images.  So  also  one  can  imagine  his  hand  to  be  icy 
cold,  whereas  another  cannot.  Individuals,  then,  as 
you  found  in  your  own  club,  differ  very  widely  in  the 
degree  to  which  they  possess  each  sort  of  imagination. 
You  may  find  as  much  difference  to  exist  between 
Mrs.  Elkin  and  Arthur  as  between  the  two  following 
cases,  which  I  quote  from  James's  'Principles  of  Psy- 
chology,' Vol.  II,  pp.  56,  57. 

"  'The  good  visualizer  says:  "'This  morning's 
breakfast-table  is  both  dim  and  bright.  It  is  dim  if 
I  try  to  think  of  it  when  my  eyes  are  open  upon  any 
object;  it  is  perfectly  clear  and  bright  if  I  think  of  it 
with  my  eyes  closed. — All  the  objects  are  clear  at 
once,  yet  when  I  confine  my  attention  to  any  one 
object  it  becomes  far  more  distinct. — I  have  more 
power  to  recall  color  than  any  other  one  thing:  if, 
for  example,  I  were  to  recall  a  plate  decorated  with 
flowers,  I  could  reproduce  in  a  drawing  the  exact 
tone,  etc.  The  color  of  anything  that  was  on  the 
table  is  perfectly  vivid. — There  is  very  little  limita- 
tion to  the  extent  of  my  images:  I  can  see  all  four 
sides  of  a  room,  I  can  see  all  four  sides  of  two,  three, 
four,  even  more  rooms,  with  such  distinctness  that  if 
you  should  ask  me  what  was  in  any  particular  place 
in  anyone,  or  ask  me  to  count  the  chairs,  etc.,  I  could 
do  it  without  the  least  hesitation. — The  more  I  learn 
by  heart,  the  more  clearly  do  I  see  images  of  my 
pages.  Even  before  I  can  recite  the  lines,  I  see  them 
so  that  I  could  give  them  very  slowly  word  for  word. 


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but  my  mind  is  so  occupied  in  looking  at  my  printed 
image  that  I  have  no  idea  of  what  I  am  saying,  of  the 
sense  of  it,  etc.  When  I  first  found  myself  doing  this, 
I  used  to  think  it  was  merely  because  I  knew  the  lines 
imperfectly;  but  I  have  quite  convinced  myself  that 
I  really  do  see  an  image.  The  strongest  proof  that 
such  is  really  the  fact  is,  I  think,  the  following: 

"  '  "I  can  look  down  the  mentally  seen  page  and  see 
the  words  that  commence  all  the  lines,  and  from  any 
one  of  these  words  I  can  continue  the  line.  I  find 
this  much  easier  to  do  if  the  words  begin  in  a  straight 
line  than  if  there  are  breaks.      Example: 

Etant  fait 

Tous 

A  des 

Que  fit 

Ceres 

Avec   

Un  fleur 

Comme  .. 
(La  Fontaine,  8,  IV)." 


( t  t ' 


'The  poor  visualizer  says:  "I  am  unable  to  form 
in  my  mind's  eye  any  visual  likeness  of  the  table 
whatever.  After  many  trials  I  can  only  get  a  hazy 
surface,  with  nothing  on  it  or  about  it.  I  can  see  no 
variety  in  color,  and  no  positive  limitations  in  extent, 
while  I  cannot  see  what  I  see  well  enough  to  deter- 
mine its  position  in  respect  to  my  eye  or  to  endow 
it  with  any  quality  of  size.  I  am  in  the  same  position 
as  to  the  word  dog.  I  cannot  see  it  in  my  mind's  eye 
at  all;  and  so  cannot  tell  whether  I  should  have  to  run 
my  eye  along  it,  if  I  did  see  it."  '  " 


The  Human  Nature  Club  107 

'"''Imagery  connected  with  words. — Most  of  our  think- 
ing is  done  in  words,  and  so  an  important  part  of  our 
imagery  is  our  images  of  words.  These  may  be  (i) 
visual,  (2)  auditory  or  (3)  motor.  One  person  may 
see  the  word  mentally,  another  may  hear  its  sound, 
another  may  feel  his  larynx  and  lips  and  tongue 
move  as  they  would  if  he  said  the  word,  another  per- 
son's images  of  words  may  be  a  mixture  of  two  or 
three  of  these.  When,  for  instance,  I  think  of  any 
word,  my  image  is  partly  of  the  sound  of  the  word, 
partly  of  feelings  in  my  mouth  and  throat.  A  blind 
person  who  had  learned  to  read  by  touch  might  have 
touch  images  of  words. 

"As  to  your  question  about  the  superiority  of  this 
form  of  imagery  over  other  forms,  I  would  say  that 
though  visual  images  may  often  be  handy,  they  do 
not  seem  to  be  necessarily  the  best  sort  of  images. 
Some  of  the  best  painters  have  no  visual  imagery 
worth  speaking  of.  Scientific  men  in  general  have  far 
less  of  it  than  ignorant  men.  The  real  test  of  one's  V 
thinking  about  any  question  is  the  judgments  he  \ 
makes  and  the  acts  he  is  led  to,  not  the  kind  of 
images  he  thinks  in.  If  I  meet  a  man  who  cries  to  me, 
'Your  horse  has  broken  pasture,'  it  makes  little  odds 
whether  I  remember  his  words  as  a  visual  picture  of 
a  capering  quadruped  out  in  the  road  or  as  a  picture  of 
so  many  letters  of  type,  or  as  a  set  of  auditory  images, 
or  what  not,  so  long  as  I  judge  that  means  must  be 
taken  to  recover  the  horse,  and  act  accordingly. 

"To  sum  up  what  I've  said: 

I.    There  are  as  many   different  kinds  of  mental 
images  as  there  are  of  sensations. 


;/ 


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2.  Not  all  people  possess  all  kinds. 

3.  People  also  differ  in  the  degree  to  which  they 
possess  any  one  kind. 

4.  A  notable  case  of  difference  is  in  images  of 
words.  These  may  be  visual,  auditory,  or  motor,  or 
a  mixture  of  all  three  sorts. 

5.  No  one  sort  of  images  need  be  better  than 
another  sort. 

"I  send  a  copy  of  Mr.  Galton's  questions  concern- 
ing imagery.  If  you  care  to  study  deeper  into  the 
matter,  the  best  way  will  be  for  every  one  to  answer 
these  questions,  and  then  to  compare  notes. 

"Very  truly, 

"Lawrence  Stamm." 

"I  suppose  that  finishes  this  matter  of  memory  and 
the  side  issues  it  has  led  us  into,"  said  Mr.  Tasker. 

"Not  quite  yet,  I  think,"  said  Arthur.  "I  have 
an  observation  which  seems  to  show  that  our  study  of 
ideas  is  still  incomplete.  We  talked  as  if  the  ques- 
tion was,  'What  imagery  has  a  man?'  'What  images  of 
sights,  sounds,  touches,  etc.,  pass  through  his  mind?' 
That's  not  the  whole  story.  The  image  one  has  of 
the  word  tnan  is  the  same,  no  matter  which  of  these 
three  sentences  you  read,  but  your  thought  of  man  is 
different  in  each: 

"  'Man!  how  wonderful  thou  art!' 

"  'Man  is  a  two-legged  animal.' 

"  'Man!  get  out  of  my  office!' 

"The  same  word  may  carry  different  thoughts, 
because  we  feel  not  only  the  mental  image,  but  also 
ihe  reference  or  meaning  it  has.     We  feel  in  the  first 


The  Human  Nature  Club  109 

case  that  we  refer  to  or  mean  man  in  the  abstract, 
a  typical  man;  in  the  second  case,  that  we  refer  to  all 
men,  mean  any  man  that  you  chance  to  take;  in  the 
third  place,  we  mean  just  the  one  tramp  or  loafer  that 
is  bothering  us.      Isn't  that  so?" 

"Of  course.  The  minute  you  think  about  it,  you 
see  that  it's  true,"  said  Mr.  Tasker.  "I  should  say 
that  often  the  feeling  of  meaning  or  reference  is  more 
important  than  the  image  itself.  In  fact,  we  couldn't 
think  of  men  in  general,  dogs  in  general,  houses  in 
general,  unless  we  had  these  feelings  of  the  general 
reference  of  our  idea.  For  instance,  when  we  think, 
'A  stone  house  is  an  expensive  thing,'  the  image  may 
be  of  some  one  house  or  of  just  the  word  house,  but 
we  feel  that  we  mean  all  stone  houses." 

"I'd  like  to  call  up  one  other  thing  before  we  con- 
sider the  whole  matter  of  learning  by  ideas  complete," 
said  Miss  Atwell.  "You  remember  that  most  of  Mr. 
Tasker's  ideas  were  'ideas  of  the  fact  that,'  and  that 
in  studying  our  deliberate  thinking  we  saw  that  we 
generally  thought  in  questions  and  statements,  had 
feelings  of  'is'  and  'is  not,'  'is  like'  and  'is  unlike,' 
etc.,  feelings  which  we  decided  to  call  'judgments.' 
Now,  if  it  is  true  that  most  of  our  real  thinking  is  in 
the  form  of  judgments,  it  seems  to  support  Professor 
Stamm's  statement  that  it  doesn't  so  much  matter 
what  sort  of  imagery  we  have  so  long  as  we  get  to  the 
right  judgments.  I  say,  'What  did  you  have  for 
breakfast?'  Mrs.  Elkin  has  an  image  of  the  table, 
and  sees  the  different  foods;  Arthur  sees  no  such 
thing;  his  image  may  be  only  of  the  sound  of  the 
words  oatmeal,    coffee,    etc.,   yet   his  judgments  may 


\ 


lio  The  Human  Nature  Club 

be  just  as  correct  as  Mrs.  Elkin's.  The  important 
thing  of  all  in  correct  thinking  would  seem  to  be,  as 
he  says,  the  conclusion  you  reached,  not  the  kind  of 
imagery  which  helped  you  to  reach  it." 

"Is  ther'e  anything  more  to  be'  added?  If  not, 
I  suggest  that  Mr.  Tasker  sum  up  for  us  all  our  con- 
clusions about  our  learning  things  by  ideas.  We've 
been  at  this  question  for  six  weeks,  and  it  won't  hurt 
at  least  one  of  us  to  have  the  whole  thing  clearly  in 
mind  before  we  start  on  the  miscellaneous  topics  of 
which  the  question-box  is  full." 

The  editor  of  the  proceedings  of  the  club  finds 
Mr.  Tasker's  extemporaneous  outline  a  little  vague, 
and  so  has  taken  the  liberty  of  modifying  it  somewhat. 

People  do  some  things — 

{a)  Without  learning  them  at  all,  because  they 
inherit  the  nervous  connections  which  bring  those  acts 
to  pass. 

They  learn  some  things — 

(l>)    By  trial  and  the  confirmation  of  successes; 
Other  things — 

(c)    By  mere  imitation; 
And  still  others,  including  most  of  our  acts — 

(li)  By  getting  certain  ideas,  by  thinking  about  the 
case. 

This  last  sort  of  human  activity  is  complex,  and 
depends  on  a  number  of  general  factors,  viz: 

I.  Sensations,  or  in  terms  of  what  happens  in  t'he 
nerve-cells,  excitement  of  the  brain  processes  from 
without,  action  in  the  cells  coming  from  eye,  ear, 
skin,  etc. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  III 

2.  Previous  experiences,  or  in  terms  of  wliat  hap- 
pens in  the  nerve-cells,  the  connections  already  estab- 
lished ill  the  brain. 

3.  Attention,  or  in  terms  of  what  happens  in  the 
nerve-cells — we  don't  know  what. 

4.  Memories,  imagery,  or  in  terms  of  what  hap- 
pens in  the  nerve-cells,  excitement  of  brain  processes 
from  within. 

5.  Feelings  of  meaning  and  judgment,  or  in  terms 
of  what  happens  in  the  nerve-cells — we  don't  know 
what. 

That  is,  a  man's  conduct  depends  on  what  outside 
things  he  feels,  how  he  receives  these  sensations, 
whether  he  attends  to  them,  what  ideas  or  imagery 
they  call  up,  what  feelings  of  meaning  go  with  these 
ideas  and  what  judgments  he  makes.  So  each  of 
these  factors  was  studied  by  the  club.  Among  the 
facts  which  they  found  out  concerning  them,  the  fol- 
lowing are  the  more  important. 

A.  Sensations. — Besides  the  commonly  mentioned 
five  senses,  we  have  sensations  of  heat  and  of  cold, 
of  movement,  of  hunger,  thirst,  nausea,  etc. 

One  sensation  may  differ  from  another  in — 

(i)    Being  of  a  different  sense; 

(2)  Being  of  a  different  quality  within  the  same 
sense ; 

(3)  Being  of  a  different  intensity. 

One  person  may  differ  from  another  in — 
(i)    The  number  of  his  senses; 

(2)  The  quality  of  his  sensations; 

(3)  Their  range; 

(4)  The  delicacy  of  his  discrimination. 


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Our  sensations  are  important  not  only  because 
they  furnish  many  of  the  feelings  which  cause  and 
guide  our  actions,  but  also  because  they  are  the  ma- 
terial out  of  which  we  construct  our  knowledge  of  our 
bodies  and  of  the  outside  world. 

B.  The  structure  of  the  brain  to  which  a  sense 
stimulus  comes,  influences  the  reaction  to  be  expected 
quite  as  truly  as  does  the  nature  of  the  stimulus  itself. 
The  brain  is  modified  by  everything  that  happens  to 
it,  and  so  people  with  different  previous  experiences 
will  in  the  same  situation  act  differently,  (i)  The 
general  bias  of  the  mind,  (2)  its  equipment  in  any 
particular  field,  and  (3)  the  ideas  which  temporarily 
possess  it,  all  may  make  a  difference  in  the  thought 
or  action  of  the  person. 

C.  Attention. — Our  sensations  and  ideas  are  not  all 
on  an  equality.  Some  are  especially  potent  or  pre- 
dominant and  occupy  the  chief  places  in  conscious- 
ness.     They  are,  we  say,  attended  to. 

What  happens  when  this  occurs  is  mainly  that  the 
'attended  to'  ideas  are  clearly  in  mind  and  others 
are  inhibited.  In  some  cases  the  idea  gains  attention 
of  itself,  while  in  others  we  feel  effort  in  keeping  it 
clearly  before  us. 

We  improve  our  powers  of  attention  by  learning  to 
attend  without  effort  to  the  right  things  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, and  to  stand  the  disagreeableness  of  the  feeling 
of  effort  where  we  have  to. 

D.  Memory,  the  Association  of  Ideas  and  Mental 
Imagery. — Feelings  are  aroused  from  the  inside  in  the 
form  of  memories  and  mental  images,  as  well  as  from 
the  outside  in  the  form   of  sensations.      Connections 


The  Human  Nature  Club  113 

once  made  between  nerve-cells  are  more  or  less  per- 
manent. The  retention  and  recall  of  ideas  are  due 
to  this  fact.  Ideas  which  have  gone  with  certain 
ideas  are  called  up  by  them.  Not  all  of  the  first  idea 
need  have  been  connected  in  the  mind  with  the 
second.  Sometimes  only  a  part  of  the  brain  process 
corresponding  to  it  has  been  connected  with  the  brain 
process  corresponding  to  the  second. 

If  one  idea  has  been  connected  with  several  other 
ideas,  it  will,  other  things  being  equal,  call  up  its  (i) 
most  habitual,  (2)  most  recent,  (3)  most  vivid,  and 
(4)  most  emotionally  congruous  associate.  But  (5) 
the  mere  accidental  activity  of  the  brain  will  often 
play  a  part,  and  (6)  our  ideas  run  in  systems  cor- 
responding to  different  general  mental  attitudes,  so 
that  the  particular  system  of  thought  which  prevails 
will  also  help  decide  what  idea  shall  come  up. 

In  voluntary,  purposive,  logical  thinking,  the 
course  of  our  ideas  is  determined  by  constant  selection 
from  among  this  spontaneous  flow,  and  by  the  inhibi- 
tion of  irrelevant  ideas. 

The  quality  of  the  ideas  that  fill  people's  minds 
varies  widely  with  individuals.  Some  have  more 
visual  images,  others  more  auditory,  etc.,  etc.  The 
vividness  and  fidelity  of  these  images  are  also  subject 
to  wide  variation.  It  is  not  of  much  importance  what 
kind  or  what  degree  of  imagery  one  has,  provided  he 
is  led  to  the  right  judgments  and  acts. 

Feelings  of  Meaning. — The  same  mental  image  may 
exert  widely  differing  effects  on  thought  and  action, 
according  to  the  feeling  of  meaning  or  reference  which 
goes  with  it. 


114  The  Human  Nature  Club 

The  same  mental  image  may  mean  a  single  definite 
object,  or  any  object  of  a  class,  or  a  typical  object,  or 
an  abstract  quality.  In  our  logical  thinking,  the 
feeling  of  meaning  is  often  more  important  than  the 
mental  image  or  sensation  itself. 


> 


CHAPTER  X 

OUR   EMOTIONS 


"To-night,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks,  "we  are  going 
to  find  out  what  we  can  about  our  emotions,  about 
love  and  hate  and  anger  and  jealousy  and  sympathy 
and  patriotism,  etc.,  etc.  1  have  here  the  various 
observations  along  this  line  which  have  been  handed  in 
from  time  to  time.  I  think,  however,  I  won't  read 
them  all  now,  because  they  may  come  in  more  perti- 
nently after  we  get  started.  There  are  two  or  three 
that  point  to  the  same  fact,  and  we'll  start  with  those. 

"Why  do  we  tremble  and  grow  pale  when  we  are 

afraid? 

"I've  noticed  that  when  any  one  is  very  sad  and 
gloomy  his  head  is  almost  always  a  bit  bowed,  hi^ 
breathing  isn't  full  and  deep,  and  there  are  wrinkles 
in  his  forehead. 

"Why  are  some  people  able  to  conceal  their  emo- 
tions so  much  better  than  others;  that  is,  conceal  the 
bodily  expression  of  the  emotion? 

"These  questions  all  point  to  the  fact  that  natu- 
rally any  emotion  goes  with  some  change  in  the  body. 
The  thing  is  so  common  that  we  don't  think  about 
it,  but  when  you  do,  it  seems  a  very  remarkable  thing 
that  when  we  feel  sad  our  lachrymal  glands  should 
pour  forth  a  fluid,  that  when  we  feel  joyous  the  cor- 
ners of  our  mouths  should  turn  up  and  our  hearts  beat 
faster,    that    when    we    feel    angry    our  teeth   should 

IIS 


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clinch.  We  certainly  aren't  taught  to  make  such 
movements.  We  are  taught  not  to,  and  we  decrease 
them  as  we  grow  older." 

"These  bodily  expressions  of  the  emotions  are 
instinctive,  I  suppose,"  said  Arthur.  "We  cry  or 
laugh  or  pucker  our  lips  or  breathe  hard  or  contract 
our  chest  or  blush  without  learning,  just  because  we 
are  born  with  brains  which  are  so  made  that  certain 
circumstances  call  forth  these  acts.  They  are  on 
a  level  with  the  walking  and  reaching  and  curiosity  of 
the  human  infant.  The  reason  why  emotions  go  with 
bodily  expressions  is  that  we  are  so  made  that  they 
do.  How  we  come  to  be  made  that  way  we'll  have 
to  leave  to  the  people  who  know  about  that." 

"You  are  quite  right  there,"  said  Dr.  Leighton. 
"These  expressions  of  our  emotions  are  born  in  us  as 
a  gift  of  nature.  What  bothers  me  is  what  the  feel- 
ings, the  emotions  themselves,  are  due  to.  You 
taught  me  last  time  about  sensations  and  imagery 
and  feelings  of  meaning  and  judgment.  One  can  see 
how  at  the  bottom  they  all  come  from  stimuli  from 
the  sense  organs.  But  these  anger,  joy,  sorrow  feel- 
ings don't  seem  at  all  like  them." 

''Give  me  the  floor  for  a  while,"  said  Mr.  Tasker. 
"I've  been  saving  up  something  I  read  over  a  month 
ago  until  the  time  was  ripe,  and  now  it  will  fit  in  per- 
fectly. Our  emotions  are  sensations,  only  they  are 
sensations  not  from  eyes  or  ears  or  nose  or  mouth 
alone,  but  mainly  from  our  hearts,  stomachs,  intes- 
tines, lungs,  muscles,  blood-vessels,  etc. — in  a  \\>  rd, 
from  what  an  old  friend  of  mine  calls  our  'innards.' 
They  are  sensations  of  the  bodily  changes  you've  been 


The  Human  Nature  Club  117 

talking  about.  Just  as  a  piece  of  sugar  in  your  mouth 
gives  you  the  feeling  of  sweetness,  so  a  contracted 
chest,  furrowed  brow,  stooping,  droopy  position,  and 
a  lot  of  happpenings  in  the  heart,  blood-vessels,  etc., 
give  you  the  feeling  of  sadness.  Add  to  the  outward 
noticeable  bodily  changes  a  lot  of  inward  changes — 
which  I'll  presently  prove  do  occur-.— and  your  sensa- 
tions due  to  these  bodily  changes  are  the  emotion/N 
Listen  to  what  Professor  James  says:  ^ 

"'My  theory  ....  isX.\\dit  the  bodily  changes  follow 
directly  the  perception  of  the  exciting  fact,  and  that  our 
feeling  of  these  same  changes  as  they  occur  is  the  emotion. 
Common  sense  says,  we  lose  our  fortune,  are  sorry 
and  weep;  we  meet  a  bear,  are  frightened  and  run; 
we  are  insulted  by  a  rival,  are  angry  and  strike. 
The  hypothesis  here  to  be  defended  says  that  this 
order  of  sequence  is  incorrect,  that  the  one  mental 
state  is  not  immediately  induced  by  the  other,  that 
the  bodily  manifestations  must  first  be  interposed  be- 
tween, and  that  the  more  rational  statement  is  that 
we  feel  sorry  because  we  cry,  angry  because  we  strike, 
afraid  because  we  tremble,  and  not  that  we  cry,  strike, 
or  tremble  because  we  are  sorry,  angry,  or  fearful,  as 
the  case  may  be.  Without  the  bodily  states  following 
on  the  perception,  the  latter  would  be  purely  cognitive 
in  form,  pale,  colorless,  destitute  of  emotional 
warmth.  We  might  then  see  the  bear  and  judge  it 
best  to  run,  receive  the  insult  and  deem  it  right  to 
strike,  but  we  should  not  actually  feel  afraid  or 
angry.'  '" 

»"  Briefer  Course  in  Psychology,"  p.  375. 


ii8  The  Human  Nature  Club 

'Then  if  you  stopped   these  bodily  activities,  you 
would  stop  the  emotion,  of  course." 

"Yes,  generally.  Just  as  you  generally  stop  the 
sweet  taste  by  rinsing  the  sugar  out  of  your  mouth. 
A  person  might  have  a  hallucination  of  an  emotion, 
just  as  we  saw  some  people  to  have  hallucinations  of 
sight  or  taste.  We  can  in  dreams  have  emotions  with- 
out their  appropriate  bodily  happenings,  just  as  we 
have  sights  with  nothing  really  to  be  seen." 

"Why  I  asked  was  because  this  theory  would  ex- 
plain an  observation  I  made.  Will  you  read  it.  Miss 
Fairbanks?  I  put  it  down  exactly  as  the  person  told 
it  to  me.     It's  on  that  yellow  paper." 

Miss  Fairbanks  read:  "I  used  to  have  sudden 
attacks  of  terrible  dread.  The  emotion  was  tremen- 
dously strong,  but  I  found  that  if  I  could  regain  my 
ordinary  manner  of  breathing  the  dread  would  go 
away.  Apparently  the  feeling  was  caused  by  the 
quickened  heart-beat  and  spasmodic  breathing,  so 
that  it  died  out  as  soon  as  I  got  them  under  control." 

"Your  theory  would  also  explain  a  very  rare  case 
which  I  happened  to  have  the  luck  to  see,"  said  Dr. 
Leighton.  "It  was  a  man  in  a  hospital.  His  body 
was  anaesthetic  except  the  head;  that  is,  he  could  not 
feel  what  went  on  in  his  trunk  or  limbs — e.  g.,  could 
not  feel  his  heart  beat  or  his  chest  move  in  breathing. 
The  following  was  the  substance  of  the  physician's 
description  of  his  emotional  life. 

"He  is  incapable  of  interest  in  anything  whatever. 
Nothing  gives  him  pleasure.  'I  am  insensible  to 
everything;  nothing  interests  me.  I  love  nobody; 
neither  do   I   dislike   anybody.'     He   does    not    even 


The  Human  Nature  Club  119 

know  whether  it  would  give  him  pleasure  to  get  well, 
and  when  I  tell  him  that  his  cure  is  possible,  it  awak- 
ens no  reaction,  not  even  one  of  surprise  or  doubt. 
The  only  thing  that  seems  to  move  him  a  little  is  the 
visit  of  his  wife.  When  she  appears  in  the  room,  'it 
gives  me  a  stroke  in  the  stomach,'  he  says;  'but  as 
soon  as  she  is  there,  I  wish  her  away  again.'  He 
often  has  a  fear  that  his  daughter  may  be  dead.  'If 
she  should  die,  I  believe  I  should  not  survive  her, 
although  if  I  were  never  to  see  her  again,  it  would 
make  no  difference  to  me.''  ....  Nothing  surprises  or 
astonishes  him.'" 

"We  would  say  that  this  man  had  no  emotions 
because  he  hadn't  any  sensations  from  his  internal 
bodily  organs.  He  couldn't  feel  his  heart-beats  or 
diaphragm  or  any  of  the  activities  of  his  internal 
viscera  (that  is  the  scientific  word  for  'innards,'  Tas- 
ker),  and  so  had  no  emotions." 

"But,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks,  "if  sensations  of  these 
bodily  changes  are  the  emotion,\a  person  couldn't  be 
angry  unless  these  bodily  changes  occurred,  could 
he?" 

"No;  and  the  facts  seem  to  show  that  he  can't." 

"I  don't  think  the  facts  do  show  that.  We  can  be 
angry  without  showing  it.  Take  a  lady  when  some 
one  spills  a  cup  of  coffee  on  her  best  gown  at  a  party. 
She  smiles,  and  says,  'Oh!  that  doesn't  matter.  It 
will  come  out  all  right,'  as  affably  as  you  please,  but 
really  she  feels  like  tearing  the  man's  hair  off  his  head. 
How  can  you  explain  that?" 

'Dr.  Sollier,  quoted  by  W.  James  in  the  "  Psychological  Review,"  Vol.  I, 
p. 528, 


I20  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"You  haven't  shown  that  the  inside  bodily  changes 
don't  take  place.  She  doesn't  growl  or  show  her  teeth 
or  clinch  her  hands,  but  her  chest  may  be  in  a  tumult. " 

"The  facts  may  be  as  you  men  say,  but  it  seems 
nicer  to  think  that  our  emotions  are  caused  directly 
by  ideas.  I'd  rather  think  the  feeling  of  sadness  was 
caused  by  a  sad  idea;  for  then  there's  some  sense 
in  being  sad.  We  are  supposed  to  be  rational  beings, 
but  on  your  theory  we  might  be  sad  when  we  had  no 
real  reason  to  be,  if  only  somehow  the  proper  bodily 
states  occurred." 

"You've  dug  a  pit  for  yourself,  Miss  Fairbanks,  if 
you'll  allow  me  to  say  so.  We  are  sad  when  we  have 
no  real  reason  to  be.  One  of  the  saddest  women 
I  ever  saw  had  a  fine  husband,  fine  children,  every- 
thing to  make  her  comfortable,  nothing  to  repent  of. 
She  was  brought  to  the  hospital  when  I  was  a  medical 
student,  her  features  drawn,  her  body  bent,  her  whole 
expression  showing  the  utmost  anguish.  When  you 
asked  what  the  trouble  was,  she'd  say,  'Oh!  oh! 
I  don't  know.  I  feel  awfully,  I  feel  awfully.'  She 
was  sad,  though  she  had  no  sad  idea  that  you  could 
discover.  After  a  few  days  her  feeling  of  sadness 
created  for  itself  an  appropriate  idea,  but  at  first  she 
was  just  possessed  by  a  motiveless  sadness. 

"On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  happiest  people 
in  the  world  are  poor  wretched  creatures  who  have 
the  least  right  to  be.  Miserable  hien  at  the  door  of 
death  from  general  paralysis  of  the  insane,  with  no 
power  or  prospects  left,  will  smile  and  tell  you,  'I  feel 
fine.  I  could  lift  ten  thousand  pounds.  I  never  felt 
more  delightful  and  joyful  in  rav  life.'  " 


The  Human  Nature  Club  121 

"I  see,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks,  "that  my  comment 
was  foolish.  Just  drop  it,  please,  and  go  ahead  as  if 
I  hadn't  spoken. " 

"Professor  James  lays  great  stress,"  said  Mr. 
Tasker,  "on  the  fact  that  if  you  imagine  an  emotion, 
say  a  feeling  of  ludicrousness,  and  then  remove  from 
the  picture  of  the  emotion  thus  called  up,  all  the 
bodily  sensations — remove,  that  is,  the  feeling  of 
shaking  sides,  of  actual  laughter,  of  open  mouth,  of 
head  thrown  back,  etc. — you  find  that  the  emotion 
you  imagined  is  gone,  that  all  that  is  left  is  a  mere 
judgment  or  notion  that  the  thing  is  funny.  So,  he 
says,  it  would  be  with  the  real  emotion.  If  we  could 
take  away  the  bodily  sensations,  nothing  would  be 
left  of  it  save  the  mere  opinion  that  the  thing  was 
amusing." 

"Would  he  think  that  such  feelings  as  the  sense  of 
duty,  patriotism,  interest,  or  the  enjoyment  of  litera- 
ture or  music  were  due  to  sensations  from  the  body, 
or  wouldn't  he  include  these  finer  feelings  under  the 
emotions?" 

"He  would  say  that  if  they  had  any  richness  and 
thrill  of  feeling  about  them,  we'd  find  bodily  sensa- 
tions making  them  up.  I  myself  don't  see  much  sense 
in  trying  to  think  out  what,  for  instance,  'the  feeling 
of  patriotism'  is  due  to,  for  no  two  people  mean  just 
the  same  thing  by  the  phrase.  In  one  case  it  may  be 
rapturous  pride  in  one's  country,  and  then  you  do 
find  the  swelling  bosom,  etc.,  of  pride.  In  another 
case  it  may  be  just  the  feeling,  'My  country  is  all 
right,  and  I'll  stand  up  for  it.'  In  this  case  there'd 
be  really  no  emotion  at  all." 


122  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"Speaking  of  the  enjoyment  of  music,  one  some- 
times has  a  whole  lot  of  bodily  sensations  mixed  in  as 
parts  of  his  feeling,  I  think,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks. 
"And  then,  again,  you'll  have  nothing  but  a  sort  of 
exalted  sensory  appreciation  of  the  harmony." 

"I  don't  believe,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "that  we'd 
better  try  to  clear  up  these  subtle  feelings  like  inter- 
est or  the  sense  of  duty  or  appreciation  of  a  poem. 
They  are  off  to  one  side  of  our  general  topic,  the 
ordinary  plain  cases  of  typical  emotions." 

"I've  been  thinking,"  said  Arthur,  "that  if  our 
emotions  are  just  sensations  of  our  bodily  condition, 
we  can  see  clearly  a  way  to  control  and  educate  them. 
If  you  want  to  get  rid  of  the  blues,  throw  back  your 
shoulders,  hold  up  your  head,  take  deep  breaths, 
smooth  out  the  wrinkles  in  your  brow,  and  you  ought 
to  feel  more  cheerful." 

"You  do,  too.  I've  tried  it.  But  som.etimes  you 
can't  keep  up  the  new  bodily  conditions.  You  fall 
right  back  into  the  gloomy  attitude  again." 

"I  was  going  on  to  say,  if  you  wish  to  feel  affection 
for  some  one  and  can't,  you  ought  to  be  helped  by 
always  smiling  and  acting  otherwise  as  if  you  liked 
them." 

"I  don't  think  that  will  work,"  said  Miss  Atwell. 
"And  I  don't  think  that  in  general  your  method  of 
controlling  emotion  by  controlling  the  physical  expres- 
sion will  work  except  to  a  limited  extent,  for  the  very 
good  reason  that  we  can  control  only  a  few  of  the 
bodily  conditions.  The  actions  of  all  those  viscera  we 
talked  about  aren't  much  under  our  control.  We  can 
manage  our  breathing  and  a  few  things,  but  our  emo- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  123 

tions   depend   on   too   many  bodily  activities  that  we 
can't  control." 

"You'll  admit,  though,  that  we  ought  to  try  this 
method  as  far  as  possible." 

"Yes." 

"I  have  another  method  to  add  to  it,"  said  Mr. 
Elkin.  "A  friend  of  mine  claims  that  by  just  stop- 
ping and  analyzing  any  emotion,  by  looking  squarely 
at  it,  and  noticing  just  how  it  fee^,  what  it's  made  of, 
he  can  get  over  any  emotion.  ■  He  calls  it  taking 
a  humorous  view  of  himself.  If  he  feels  very  angry 
when  he  doesn't  wish  to,  he  stops  and  sort  of  says  to 
himself,  'Great  perturbation,  heated  feeling,  impulse 
to  throw  chairs.  Remarkable  state  of  mind.  I'll  feel 
my  pulse.'  He  turns  the  tumult  of  feeling  into  a  lot 
of  elements,  and  that  seems  to  stop  it.  I  believe 
there's  something  in  it,  too." 

"I  don't,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston.  "I  think  the  best 
way  is  to  avoid  occasions  that  will  excite  any  undesir- 
able emotion,  and  to  put  yourself  in  such  conditions 
as  will  naturally  arouse  the  good  ones.  If  a  bad  one 
comes,  just  don't  attend  to  it;  leave  it  alone." 

"We  have  three  recipes  for  controlling  our  emo- 
tions now,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "and  they  may  all  be 
successful,  it  seems  to  me.  ,  We  may  control  the 
bodily  expression,-^'Or  destroy  an  emotion  by  picking  it 
to  pieces,  or  keep  out  of  the  way  of  bad  ones  and  in 
the  way  of  good  ones.  Let's  all  try  the  different 
ways  and  see  how  they  work.  I  suppose  a  fit  of  the 
blues,  or  a  case  of  bad  temper  or  anything  of  the 
sort,  will  never  again  exist  in  the  mind  of  any  member 
of  this  club." 


124  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"It  would  be  a  good  thing  for  Americans  if  tliey 
could  control  theirnervousness  and  worry,"  remarked 
the  doctor.  "What  would  your  Professor  James  pre- 
scribe for  that,  do  you  suppose,  Tasker?" 

"I  don't  suppose;  I  know.  He  has  had  that  very 
question  in  mind,  and  says  that  making  slow,  calm 
movements,  letting  your  muscles  be  quiet  and  flabby 
when  you're  not  using  them  for  some  definite  purpose, 
relaxing  your  brow  and  face  into  flat  expressionless- 
ness  unless  you  really  have  something  to  express,  will 
all  help  rid  us  of  nervousness,  because  it — the  feel- 
ing— is  in  part  a  feeling  of  muscular  tensions.  We 
would  learn  to  take  things  easily  mentally  by  taking 
our  physical  life  easily.  It  will  be  worth  the  while  of 
all  of  us  to  read  the  chapter  entitled  'The  Gospel  of 
Relaxation,'  in  his  'Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology.' 
I  have  the  book." 

"I  want  to  come  back  to  the  point  from  which  we 
started  out  to  study  our  emotions,  their  influence  on 
our  conduct.  Isn't  it  true  that  people  often  have  the 
feeli?ig  of  sympathy  without  being  thereby  led  to  do 
anything  sympathetic,  the  feeling  of  love  without 
being  led  to  act  more  kindly,  etc.?" 

"It  surely  is,  Arthur,"  said  Mr.  Tasker.  "I  once 
tutored  a  boy  who  was  brimming  over  with  feelings  of 
love  for  his  mother,  but  who  nevertheless  amused  him- 
self by  shooting  at  the  parlor  ornaments  with  his 
revolver.  We  all  know  folks  in.  churches  whose 
hearts  are  simply  chockfull  of  fine  emotions,  from 
whom  you  can't  get  a  cent  or  a  stroke  of  work." 

"I  once  was  waited  on  by  a  committee  of  anti-vivi- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  125 

sectionists, "  said  Dr.  Leighton.  "They  wanted  me 
to  help  their  cause  in  certain  ways,  and  they  evidently 
felt  terribly  about  the  dear  animals,  as  they  called 
them.  I  wanted  to  see  how  much  in  earnest  they 
were,  so  I  said:  'Ladies,  I  am  willing  to  give  the 
amount  of  time  and  effort  needed  for  what  you  desire, 
if,  as  I  suppose,  you  are  willing  to  help  me  in  a  cer- 
tain matter.  I  know  a  child  who  can  be  saved  from 
lifelong  misfortune  by  an  operation.  It  will  cost  about 
sixty  dollars  to  get  him  to  New  York  and  back  and 
buy  what  is  needed.'  The  head  of  the  committee  rose 
majestically,  and  said:  'We  did  not  come  here  to  bar- 
gain, Mr.  Leighton.  If  you  don't  choose  to  relieve 
the  suffering  of  the  poor  dumb  brutes  of  your  own 
will,  why  so  much  the  worse  for  you.'  I  bowed 
politely,  and  saved  up  the  righteous  indignation  which 
I  felt  until  they  had  gone." 

"Isn't  it  fair  to  say,"  said  Miss  Atwell,  "that  our 
emotions  are  useful  only  as  they  give  us  innocent 
pleasure  or  serve  as  impulses  to  useful  conduct?  They 
seem  to  me  to  be  in  a  way  like  steam.  It  isn't  of  any 
use  for  steam  to  just  be;  it  must  make  some  wheels 
go.  If  it  just  sizzles  and  hisses  and  displays  itself,  it 
only  wears  out  the  boiler." 

"I  believe  that,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw;  "and  I  don't 
see  much  justice  in  making  a  fuss  over  what  people 
feel.  If  a  man  treats  me  and  everybody  else  rightly, 
both  when  I'm  looking  and  when  I'm  not,  what  do 
I  care  what  he  feels?  If  a  man  serves  his  country 
well,  what  odds  does  it  make  whether  he  feels  throbs 
of  patriotism  or  not?     The  action's  the  thing,  and  the 


126  The  Human  Nature  Club 

only  value  of  the  feeling  is  as  an  impulse  to  it.  If 
you  can  have  the  right  action  without  any  feeling, 
you  just  save  yourself  so  much  chance  of  becoming 
silly." 

NOTES   BY   THE    EDITOR. 

In  this  chapter  three  topics  are  discussed: 

1.  The  cause  of  our  emotional  feelings. 

2.  The  means  of  controlling  them. 

3.  Their  usefulness  in  human  life. 

Professor  James  is  the  authority  for  their  conclusions  about 
the  first  topic,  and  the  editor  thinks  Mr.  Henshaw's  opinion 
about  (2),  as  given  on  page  123,  and  Miss  Atwell's  about  (3), 
as  given  on  page  125,  are  as  satisfactory  as  any  equally  brief 
statements  of  his  own  would  be. 

James's  "  Briefer  Course,"  pp.  374-390,  may  well  be  read  in 
connection  with  the  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PURPOSIVE   ACTION 

"It  Strikes  me,"  said  Mr.  Elkin,  "that  we  haven't 
yet  touched  on  the  most  important  aspect  of  human 
nature  at  all — the  will.  It  doesn't  make  much  odds 
v/hat  a  man  knows  or  how  he  feels,  provided  he 
chooses  the  right  line  of  conduct,  provided  his  wiii  is 
healthy  and  leads  him  in  the  right  direction.  I'd  like 
to  know  what  makes  the  difference  between  a  good 
and  bad  will,  a  strong  or  weak  will.  I've  been  on 
the  lookout  to  see,  but  I  have  no  observations  worth 
reporting." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  a  person's  'will'?"  asked 
Miss  Atwell. 

"I  mean  whatever  makes  him  do  things." 

"But  we  have  touched  on  that.  We  found  that 
a  man  did  a  great  many  things  just  because  his  nerve- 
cells  were  so  connected  that  a  certain  situation  led  to 
a  certain  act.  We  breathe,  cry,  weep,  laugh,  etc., 
just  because  we  inherit  as  nature's  gift  to  us  certain 
connections  between  nerve-cells  and  muscles.  We 
also  do  things  from  imitation." 

"I  suppose  I  really  mean  the  things  that  we  do 
when  we  foresee  and  control  our  acts;  when,  for 
instance,  we  murder  a  man,  or  write  a  letter  or  buy 
a  suit  of  clothes,  all  the  really  complex  acts  that  we 
perform." 

"But,"   said  Arthur,  "we  can  perform  very  com- 

127 


128  The  Human  Nature  Club 

plex   acts   without  really  'willing'   to  do  them.     You 
know  you  and  I  were  talking  about  this  thing  the  other 
day.     Well,  I  decided  to  see  how  many  things  I  really 
willed   in  a  day.      I   found   they  were  very  few.     As 
I  got  out  of  bed,  I  thought,    'Did  I  will  to  do  that?' 
and  observed  that  I  hadn't.     The  mere  sight  of  the 
clock  gave  me  the  idea  of  getting  up,  and  up  I  got, 
without   'willing'    anything.      The   mere   sight  of  my 
clothes  led   me  to  put  them  on,  and  amongst  all  the 
numerous    operations    that    I    went    through    before 
I  reached   my  seat  at  the  breakfast-table,  there  was  , 
only  one  case  of  willing.      I  did  deliberately  decide  to 
put  on  a  certain  necktie,  because  I  wanted  to  wear  the 
thing  out.      In  that  one  case  I  felt  that  I  really  willed 
to  do  something.      In  all  the  other  cases  I  either  acted 
automatically  or  else  the  mere  idea  of  doing  a  certain 
thing  or  the  sight  of  some  object  connected  with  the 
act  led  me  to  do  it  without  any  decision  or  act  of  will 
of  my  own.      So  on  through  the  day.      The  thought, 
'What  time  is  it?'  suffices  to  make  me  open  my  watch 
without  there  being  any  exertion  of  will  power  or  any 
feeling  of  'Lo,  verily,  I  will  do  so  and  so.'     An  idea 
calls  up  a  movement  just  as  an  idea  calls  up  an  idea." 
"You   can   see  that  rather  well  in   some  cases  we 
doctors  have   to  deal    with,"    added    Dr.     Leighton. 
"Some  people  do  things  just  when  they  will  not  to.     A 
man  came  to  me  once  who  said,  'Doctor,   either  I'm 
the  biggest   fool   on   earth   or   there's  something  the 
matter  with   my  brain.      Every    night   I   have    to    go 
down  to  lock  the  door  a  dozen  times.      I'll  lock  it  and 
go  to  bed,  and  then  up  will  bob  the  idea,  "Go  down 
and  lock  the  door,"  and  I'll  find  myself  walking  down- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  129 

stairs  like  an  idiot.  I  will  to  stay  in  bed,  but  some- 
how the  idea  of  looking  after  that  door  possesses  me, 
and  I  have  to  work  the  idea  out  in  action.  The  worst  of 
it  is  that  this  absurd  thing  will  happen  ten,  sometimes 
twenty,  times  in  a  single  night.'  It's  evident  that  in 
such  cases  the  mere  idea  of  doing  a  thing  suffices  to 
bring  the  act  to  pass,  apart  from  any  act  of  will.  We 
all,  I  think,  have  experiences  which  border  on  such 
morbid  activity.  Who,  for  instance,  has  not  stepped 
over  a  crack  in  the  sidewalk,  or  touched  a  lamp-post, 
or  counted  the  globes  in  a  chandelier  just  because  the 
idea  struck  him.  Our  minds  as  a  whole  are  healthy, 
and  we  don't  follow  out  in  action  ideas  that  are  too 
absurd,  but  we  do  tend  to  act  out  all  the  ideas  we 
have  unless  we  are  prevented  by  some  other  idea. 
I  well  remember  how  once,  when  a  boy,  I  saw  a  hay- 
stack, and  was  struck  by  the  idea  of  setting  fire  to  it. 
I  had  all  I  could  do  for  a  minute  or  two  to  with- 
hold from  the  act.  So  I  feel  sure  that  we  must  agree 
with  Arthur  that  we  do  all  sorts  of  things,  complex  as 
well  as  simple,  without  willing  or  deciding  about  them 
at  all.  As  he  says,  any  idea  that  has  gone  with  an 
act  tends  to  bring  about  that  act,  just  as  an  idea  that 
has  gone  with  another  idea  tends  to  call  it  up  in  the 
mind." 

"That  would  go  to  show  that  the  'as  a  man  thinketh 
in  his  heart,  so  is  he,'  was  a  good  account  of  human 
nature,  wouldn't  it?  A  man  with  good  thoughts 
would  do  good  deeds,  if,  as  you  say,  every  idea  tends 
to  realize  itself  in  action?"  said  Mrs.  Ralston. 

"Yes;  provided  that  he  had  customarily  done  good 
deeds    in    connection    with   those   thoughts.       If,    for 


130  The  Human  Nature  Club 

example,  a  man  in  a  car  thinks,  'That  lady  should 
have  a  seat,'  and  then  gets  up  and  if  he  repeatedly 
makes  the  connection  between  that  thought  and  that 
act,  after  a  while  the  mere  presence  of  the  idea,  'Give 
up  my  seat',  will  bring  about  the  act  without  his 
willing  it  at  all.  But  suppose  he  repeatedly  has  the 
idea,  but  on  all  occasions  sits  still.  Then  the  pres- 
ence of  that  good  idea  won't  imply  any  good  action." 

"You  could  say,  couldn't  you,"  said  Mr.  Tasker, 
"that  he  had  not  only  the  good  idea,  but  also  another 
bad  idea — namely,  'But  I  won't  give  it  to  her,'  or 
'But  I'll  sit  still.'  What  were  you  going  to  say,  Miss 
Atwell?" 

"Nothing  now.  I  was  intending  to  say  that  people 
could  be  chockfull  of  fine  thoughts  and  never  put  any 
of  them  into  action,  but  you  and  Mr.  Henshaw  have 
explained  that  by  showing  that  they've  never  con- 
nected these  thoughts  with  the  corresponding  acts  and 
may  have  in  mind  also  ideas  of  7iot  doing  the  good 
things  they  talk  about.  To  turn  back  to  our  main 
question,  I'd  like  to  ask  what  happens  when  we  really 
do  intend  or  decide  or  will  to  do  a  thing.  We  all 
agree  that  in  some  cases  this  occurs,  that  we  aren't 
always  doing  things  just  because  an  idea  comes  up 
in  our  mind  that  tends  to  work  itself  out  in  a  certain 
act,  or  because  of  imitation,  or  because  of  inherited 
tendencies.  We  sometimes  act  deliberately  as  a  result 
of  choice.      Now  what  happens  in  us  in  such  cases?" 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin;  "take  a  concrete  case 
and  explain  what  happened  in  my  mind  when  yester- 
day I  deliberated  whether  to  take  Helen  to  Springfield 
to  the  dentist's  or  to  stay  at  home  and  rest.     I  thought 


The  Human  Nature  Club  131 

of  things  on  both  sides  of  the  question,  and  finally 
decided  to  stay  and  rest." 

"You'd  better  try  to  explain  it  first  yourself,"  said 
Arthur.  "Then  we'll  all  put  our  fingers  in  the  pie 
later.  At  any  rate,  tell  us  what  happened  more 
exactly." 

"Well,  the  idea  of  going  to  Springfield  had  been 
in  my  mind  for  some  time.  At  breakfast  I  thought, 
'I'd  better  take  Helen  this  afternoon.'  I  then 
thought  I  would — that  is,  I  had  a  feeling  of  consent, 
of  'all  right,'  of  'let  it  be  so,'  as  the  idea  came  to  me. 
But  at  lunch  I  felt  tired,  and  as  I  thought  of  the  trip 
I  recalled  some  advice  Dr.  Leighton  gave  me  a  while 
ago — namely,  'Do  just  as  little  as  you  can,  Mrs.  Elkin; 
don't  do  to-day  anything  you  can  put  off  on  some  one 
else,'  and  I  felt,  'Shall  I  go  or  stay  at  home?'  The 
idea  of  staying  at  home  made  me  think  of  the  comfort 
of  a  restful  afternoon  in  an  arm-chair,  but  also  of  my 
duty  to  have  Helen  see  the  dentist,  and  of  a  number 
of  other  things,  attractive  and  otherwise.  After  about 
five  minutes  of  such  deliberation  I  thought:  'Well, 
it  doesn't  much  matter;  some  more  convenient  chance 
will  come  than  this  awfully  wet  day.  I'll  stay  at 
ome. 

"Just  what  was  your  feeling,  Mrs.  Elkin,  when  at 
breakfast  you  willed  to  go,  and  at  lunch  to  stay? 
I  mean  just  the  feeling  of  willing." 

"It  seemed  like  a  feeling  of  'Do  it,'  'Go  ahead, 
'Let  it  be,'  a  feeling  of  consent  to  the  realization  of 
the  idea  then  in  mind,  as  I  called  it  a  minute  ago." 

"Is  that  what  we  all  feel  when  we  will  to  do 
a  thing?"  asked  Mr,  Tasker. 


132  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"It  is  with  the  worst  half  of  the  Elkin  family," 
said  Mr.  Elkin.  "Instead  of  just  having  an  idea  and 
having  it  of  its  own  accord  bring  about  an  act,  as  in 
the  case  we'd  been  talking  about,  you  have,  when  you 
will  an  act,  an  idea  plus  this  feeling  of  consent.  You 
O.  K.  it,  put  in  your  mind  a  label  'approved'  on  the 
idea." 

The  rest  of  the  company  agreed  with  this  descrip- 
tion of  the  feeling  of  'willing,'  and  Mr.  Tasker  con- 
tinued, "If  we  could  now  see,  first,  how,  when  we 
deliberate  or  decide  or  choose,  an  idea  gets  this  O.  K., 
this  label  'approved,'  this  feeling  of  consent,  and 
second,  why  it  then  is  acted  out,  we'd  have  a  pretty 
satisfactory  account  of  'willing.'  " 

"That  isn't  so  very  hard  to  see,  is  it?"  said  Arthur. 
"Isn't  it  just  a  matter  of  attention?  An  idea,  we've 
seen,  tends  to  be  acted  upon  if  nothing  prevents — 
e.  g.,  the  idea  of  staying  at  home  in  the  present  case. 
Other  ideas  do  prevent,  by  preventing  it  from  monop- 
olizing attention,  from  possessing  the  mind.  If  some- 
how an  idea  does  become  strong  enough  to  gain  total 
predominance,  to  absorb  the  mind,  it  will  be  acted 
out,  and  with  the  removal  of  the  ideas  that  before 
checked  it,  with  this  whole-hearted  acceptance  of  it, 
comes  the  feeling  of  consent  you  talk  about.  That 
feeling  is  much  the  same,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  as  the 
feeling  of  belief.  In  both  cases  there  is  the  absence 
of  feelings  of  contradiction — in  one  case  of  an  opin- 
ion, in  the  other  of  a  course  of  action.  When  an  idea 
leading  to  an  act  has  to  be  attended  to,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  ideas  of  other  courses  of  action,  and  is  so 
attended  to,  it  is  acted  out  because  checks  previously 


The  Human  Nature  Club  133 

existing  are  removed,  and  you  feel  the  'O.  K. ,'  be- 
cause that  is  a  feeling  which  goes  with  unimpeded 
acceptance  of  an  idea." 

"You  mean,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "that  when  we 
decide,  for  instance,  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket, 
we  really  just  attend  to  that  idea,  let  it  prevail  in  our 
minds,  disregard  conflicting  ideas,  such  as  to  vote  the 
Democratic  ticket  or  not  to  vote  at  all.  You  mean 
that  willing  to  do  a  thing  is  really  attending  to  the 
idea  of  doing  it,  and  that  when  we  have  done  that 
much  the  idea  will  of  itself  lead  to  the  appropriate  act, 
just  as  you  found  when  you  watched  your  own  acts; 
just  as,  to  take  another  example,  the  idea  of  its  being 
lunch-time  makes  me  put  on  my  hat  and  leave  the 
office." 

"That's  it.  Ideas  tend  to  result  in  action  if  they 
have  the  chance.  Letting  them  possess  one's  mind 
gives  them  the  chance." 

"That  explanation  seems  to  fit  what  I've  noticed 
in  myself  in  cases  where  I  exerted  my  will,  as  we'd 
ordinarily  say,  to  do  something  that  went  'against  the 
grain,'  "  said  Miss  Fairbanks.  "I  used  to  find  it 
very  hard  to  go  through  a  certain  sort  ot  practice  at 
the  piano.  The  time  for  it  was  from  two  till  four  in 
the  afternoon.  Now,  when  the  time  came,  ideas  of 
going  out  for  a  walk,  of  sewing  that  needed  to  be 
done,  of  making  a  call,  of  finishing  some  book  I  was 
reading,  etc.,  would  come  up,  and  of  course,  also,  the 
idea  of  sitting  down  to  the  piano  and  going  over  those 
abominable  exercises.  Now,  as  I  said,  it  took  consid- 
erable will  power  to  make  me  attend  to  business,  and 
my  act  was,  just  as  Arthur  says,  an  act  of  attention. 


134 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


If  I  could  get  and  keep  my  mind  on  that  piano-prac- 
tice idea  and  shut  out  those  other  ideas,  I  would  find 
myself  thrumming  away.  The  struggle  was  to  keep 
that  idea  in  the  focus  of  my  consciousness,  and  keep 
those  other  ideas  from  appearing  on  the  scene.  Will- 
ing to  practice  rather  than  make  calls,  etc.,  was  for 
me  exactly  attending  to  the  former  idea  and  exclud- 
ing others." 

"That  feeling  of  effort  one  has  in  willing  is  an 
interesting  feeling,"  remarked  Mrs.  Elkin.  "I  sup- 
pose weak-willed  people  can't  stand  the  strain 
of  it." 

"It's  a  lucky  thing  that  it  isn't  a  necessary  accom- 
paniment of  all  our  decisions.  We  don't  always  have 
it." 

"No;  it's  only  in  cases  where  we  decide  in  contra- 
diction to  some  inborn  impulse  or  regular  habit," 
said  Miss  Atwell.  "I  feel  no  effort  in  deciding  to  eat 
my  meals,  or  to  read  an  interesting  story,  or  to  lie  in 
bed  in  the  morning.  It's  when  we  decide  in  favor  of 
some  far-off  consideration  or  some  general  principle 
that  doesn't  appeal  to  our  appetites  or  habits  that  the 
feeling  of  effort  enters.  It's  just  like  the  same  feeling 
in  attending  to  other  ideas  than  those  of  acts.  One 
has  no  feeling  of  effort  when  he  attends  to  a  fire-engine, 
or  the  taste  of  his  food,  or  attractive  scenery,  or 
charming  music.  It's  when  the  object  is  not  in  line 
with  our  inborn  or  acquired  tastes  and  interests  that 
we  feel  effort  in  attending  to  it.  I  suppose  that  the 
acts  of  will  which  for  people  in  general  require  most 
effort  are  moral  acts.  Now  they  are  par  excellence 
acts  where  one's  personal,  selfish  appetites  and  inter- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  135 

ests  are  sacrificed  for  some  general  good,  some  uni- 
versal principle." 

"Besides  this  parallel  between  the  feeling  of  effort 
or  strain  in  attention  in  general  and  the  same  feeling 
in  the  attention  involved  in  willing,  we  might  make 
another,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw.  "We  found  that 
improvement  in  attentiveness  meant  (i)  improve- 
ment in  ability  to  stand  the  strain  of  inhibiting  other 
ideas  and  impulses,  and  also  (2)  learning  to  attend  to 
the  right  things.  So  improvement  of  our  wills  means 
increased  ability  to  stand  the  painful  feeling  of  effort 
and  also  the  habit  of  welcoming  ideas  of  the  right 
acts;  for  example,  attending  or  being  possessed  by 
the  idea  of  working  rather  than  that  of  dawdling. 
After  a  while  a  man  may  will  the  right  acts  without 
effort.  The  far-off  moral  considerations  may  by 
proper  education  come  to  take  the  chief  place  of  their 
own  accord.  One  may  come  to  really  be  more  inclined 
to  study  than  to  play.  So  much  the  better  for  him  if 
he  does.  If  one  can  will  the  right  things  without 
effort,  without  sacrifice,  he's  all  the  better  off." 

"I  think,"  said  Arthur,  "that  we've  now  a  fairly 
clear  idea  of  what  we  mean  by  people's  wills,  and  also 
of  the  many  things  we  do  without  willing  them.  But 
if  there  is  anything  more  to  be  said,  let's  have  it. 
I  might  add  that  our  study  of  attention  and  voluntary 
purposive  thinking,  and  also  of  willing,  has  made  it 
clear  to  me  that  not  thinking  certain  things,  not  doing 
certain  things,  inhibititig,  as  we've  come  to  call  it,  is 
about  as  important  a  part  of  human  nature,  of  mental 
life,  as  positive  thinking  or  doing.  What  we  neglect 
seems  as  important  as  what  we  select,  and  success  in 


136  The  Human  Nature  Club 

life  seems  due  as  much  to  leaving  things  out  as  to  put- 
ting them  in.  Attention  to  one  idea  is  largely  inhibi- 
tion of  others.  Reasoning  is  largely  neglecting 
unessentials.  Willing  is  largely  rejecting  certain 
ideas,  motives  and  impulses.  To  adopt  an  Hibernian 
mode  of  expression,  'What  we  are  is  largely  what  we 
are  not!'     Are  there  any  other  remarks?" 

"You  remind  me,"  said  Miss  Clark,  "of  an  obser- 
vation which  I  dropped  into  the  box  long  ago.  May 
I  look  it  up  and  read  it  to  you?     Here  it  is: 

"  'A  lady  of  a  very  nervous  organization  would  fre- 
quently, while  at  table,  spend  ten  minutes  deciding 
whether  or  not  to  eat  oatmeal  (or  some  such  simple 
question).  She  would  alternately  think  of  reasons  for 
and  against  the  act,  and  would  frequently  be  unable 
to  act  at  all,  until  by  diverting  her  attention  from  the 
matter  altogether  one  impulse  was  allowed  to  prevail. 
In  all  sorts  of  things  where  her  decision  one  way  or 
the  other  was  really  of  no  consequence  she  seemed  to 
have  no  power  to  make  up  her  mind.  If  she  started 
to  decide  one  way,  something  would  come  up  in  her  i 
mind  which  would  make  her  take  back  her  decision. '  " 

"This  lady,  I  suppose,   had  too   much,  or  rather, 
misplaced,  inhibition.    Whenever  she  thought  of  doing 
anything,  some  other  idea  would  come  up  which  would   \ 
work  against  the  thought."  | 

"Yes,"  said  Dr.  Leighton;  "her  will  was  diseased     • 
in   that  any  one  idea  aroused  a  lot  of  contradictory, 
inhibiting  ideas,   and  her  attention  vacillated  amon,g^ 
them,  not   letting  any   one   idea   hold   the   field   long  j 
enough   to  work  out  in  action.      I  gave  you  a  case  of 
the  exactly  opposite  tendency  earlier  in  the  evening. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  137 

that  of  the  man  who  had  to  go  down  to  lock  the  door 
nights.  In  his  case,  not  the  inhibiting  ideas,  but  the 
impelling  ones,  were  too  strong.  His  attention  was 
too  firmly  possessed  by  a  single  idea." 

"Let's  adjourn  before  we  get  too  deep  into  the 
unhealthy  side  of  human  nature,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston. 
"You  can  talk  that  over  by  yourselves." 

NOTES   BY   THE    EDITOR. 

Human  conduct  is,  as  the  club  found,  a  complex  matter, 
(i)  We  do  some  things  because  we  are  made  so  that  a  certain 
situation  calls  forth  a  certain  act;  we  do  others  (2)  by  accident; 
others  (3)  by  force  of  imitation;  others  (4)  because  any  idea 
which  has  in  the  past  led  to  a  certain  act  tends,  when  again 
present,  to  lead  to  that  same  act.  Finally  (5)  we  may,  by  con- 
trolling our  ideas  by  attention,  voluntarily  choose  certain  acts 
— that  is,  will  them. 

Willing  a  thing  thus  means  attending  to  the  idea  of  doing 
it.  The  effort  of  will  is  the  effort  of  attention.  Diseases  or 
weaknesses  of  will  are  instances  of  defective  impulsion  or  defec- 
tive inhibition.  The  man  with  the  healthy  will  is  the  man  in 
whom  natural  impulses  are  strong  but  under  control,  and  in 
whom  inhibition  is  not  excessive  or  misplaced. 


9 

CHAPTER  XII 

HABIT   AND    CHARACTER 

"In  discussing  the  will  and  its  influence  on  our 
conduct  I  think  we  left  out  one  rather  important  mat- 
ter," said  Mr.  Tasker,  as  soon  as  the  club  was  called 
to  order.  "After  an  act  or  a  series  of  acts  has  been 
done  several  times  as  a  result  of  willing  it,  it  tends 
to  become  habitual,  to  be  done  without  much  thought, 
as  a  matter  of  course.  To  put  the  thing  exactly,  any 
acts  or  series  of  acts  which  have  been  done  in  a  given 
situation  tend  to  be  done  again  when  the  same  situa- 
tion recurs." 

"But  that  isn't  true, "  was  the  quick  response  from 
Miss  Atwell.  "Suppose  I  face  the  situation,  'sight  of 
a  new  fruit,'  and  my  act  is  to  take  and  eat  it.  Sup- 
pose it  tastes  very  nasty.  Now  let  me  next  day  be  in 
that  same  situation.  Will  I  take  and  eat  the  fruit? 
Not  at  all.  For  the  previous  result  was  disagreeable. 
Only  when  the  result  of  the  act  is  pleasurable  or 
indifferent  is  a  habit  formed." 

"I'll  accept  that  amendment,"  said  Mr.  Tasker. 
"I  remember  now  that  we  made  that  distinction  at 
one  of  our  first  meetings.  But  you  must  agree  to 
amend  //  by  saying  that  often  if  one  does  repeat  the 
act  many  times,  its  result  may  come  to  be  pleasurable. 
For  instance,  eating  olives  does. " 

"There's  another  modification  needed,"  said 
Arthur.      "A  pleasurable  thing  too  often  repeated  may 

138 


The  Human  Nature  Club  139 

become  disagreeable;  for  instance,  the  same  kind  of 
food  or  the  same  walk." 

*'Are  there  anymore  modifications?"  said  Mr.  Tas- 
ker.  "If  there  aren't,  I'll  go  on.  We  form  habits  of 
acting,  and  such  habits  grow  stronger  and  stronger 
with  each  repetition — that  is,  certain  movements  be- 
come surer  and  surer  to  be  made  in  certain  situations. 
As  we  saw  in  our  first  meetings,  this  represents  the 
formation  of  closer  and  closer  connections  between 
nerve-cells  aroused  to  action  by  the  outside  situation 
and  nerve-cells  whose  action  brings  about  the  move- 
ments in  question.  Now,  as  any  series  of  acts  thus 
become  habitual,  there  is  less  and  less  need  of 
our  willing  them,  attending  to  them,  or  even  thinking 
about  them  at  all.  We  may  carry  them  out  without 
consciousness — that  is,  automatically.  Thus  our  wills 
are  freed  from  the  care  of  a  big  percentage  of  our 
activities." 

"You  could  say,  too,  couldn't  you,"  said  Mr.  Hen- 
shaw,  "that  the  fact  that  every  decision,  every  act  of 
will,  left  a  permanent  effect  on  a  man  in  the  shape 
of  so  much  bias  toward  some  habit,  made  our  deci- 
sions, our  acts  of  will,  all  the  more  important.  Last 
time  we  rather  tended  to  belittle  the  importance  of 
our  wills,  because  we  became  interested  in  seeing  how 
many  things  we  did  without  willing  to  do  them.  But 
many  of  those  acts  were  acts  which  at  the  start  we  did 
will.  In  many  cases  we  did  have  to  attend  to  them 
and  think  about  them  once  in  order  that  later  they 
might  become  habits  and  run  off  automatically." 

"Yes.  Every  act  or  thought,  not  only  those 
resulting   from    deliberation,    but   also   from   chance, 


140  The  Human  Nature  Club 

impulse,  imitation  or  what  not,  leaves  a  trace,  pre- 
pares the  way  for  others  like  it.  We  may  forget  it,  and 
our  friends  and  foes  may,  but  its  influence  has  been 
felt.  Dr.  Leighton  says  our  brains  are  affected  by  every 
activity  in  them,  that  their  growth  depends  on  the  son 
of  work  they  do,  and  that  they  register  a  man's  good 
and  bad  deeds  as  faithfully  as  the  recording  angel." 

"To  come  back  to  your  point,  that  the  growth  of 
a  lot  of  fixed  habits  leaves  one's  will  and  attention 
free  to  attend  to  other  matters,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks; 
"you  can  see  how  important  and  helpful  that  is  by 
taking  piano-playing  as  an  illustration.  At  first  you 
have  to  think  where  to  put  your  fingers  for  each  note, 
but  you  soon  form  the  habit  of  hitting  the  right  key 
when  you  see  the  note.  The  sight  of  the  score  brings 
the  right  movement  to  pass  automatically,  and  you 
are  free  to  attend  to  combining  certain  movements  so 
as  to  play  chords,  etc.  The  associations  between  the 
sight  of  certain  combinations  of  notes  and  the  proper 
movements  involved  in  playing  them  soon  become 
habitual,  and  you  can  think  of  something  more 
advanced.  After  a  while  the  mere  playing  of  ordi- 
nary pieces  becomes  automatic,  and  you  devote  your 
mental  efforts  to  getting  improved  tone  and  expres- 
sion, etc.  One  could  never  get  very  far  on  in  music  if 
the  brain  didn't  look  after  a  great  many  things  with- 
out help  from  our  thinking  powers." 

"Imagine,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin,  "what  life  would  be 
like  if  we  had  always  to  think  about  things  the  way 
we  do  at  the  start — if,  for  instance,  when  eating,  we 
had  to  think  about  our  knives  and  forks  the  way  four- 
yc-ar-olds  do.     There  couldn't   be  much  table-talk." 


The  Human  Nature  Club  I4I 

"It  strikes  me,"  said  Mr.  Henshavv,  "that  forming 
habits  is  like  acquiring  capital.  A  person  who  always 
has  to  think  out  each  simple  act  would  be  like  a  man 
who  lives  from  hand  to  mouth,  who  never  can  advance 
nis  position  in  life  because  he  has  always  to  think 
about  that  day's  bread.  The  man  who  forms  habits, 
on  the  contrary,  is  storing  up  a  great  deal  of  useful 
ability;  he  doesn't  have  to  work  all  the  time  for  the 
present  day's  needs,  for  he  can  draw  on  his  capital, 
these  habits,  to  supply  many  of  his  wants,  and  so  be 
free  to  make  wide  plans  and  to  foresee  the  future. 
Moreover,  just  as  capital  begets  capital,  so  one  habit 
serves  as  a  basis  for  others.  Harmful  habits  might 
be  likened  to  debts,  to  complete  the  simile." 

"Important  as  habit-forming  is  at  all  times,  it  is 
especially  so  for  young  folks,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston. 
"I  wish  I  might  have  known  what  I've  heard  to-night 
when  I  was  fifteen  years  old.  I  didn't  realize  then 
that  the  habits  I  was  forming  would  decide  what  I'd 
be  all  my  life  long.  Ordinarily,  after  people  are 
twenty-five  they  don't  change  their  general  habits  of 
thought  and  conduct.  It's  about  as  hard  as  to  add 
a  cubit  to  one's  stature." 

The  club  now  engaged  in  some  general  conversa- 
tion concerning  the  moral  importance  of  habits,  in 
place  of  which  the  editor  prefers  to  insert  a  quotation 
from  Professor  James: ' 

"The  physiological  study  of  mental  conditions  is 
thus  the  most  powerful  ally  of  hortatory  ethics.     The 
hell  to  be  endured  hereafter,  of  which  theology  tellss 
is   no   worse  than  the  hell  we  make  for  ourselves  in 

'"Principles  of  Psychology,"  Vol.  I,  p.  127. 


142  The  Human  Nature  Club 

this  world  by  habitually  fashioning  our  characters 
in  the  wrong  way.  Could  the  young  but  realize  how 
soon  they  will  become  mere  walking  bundles  of  habits, 
they  would  give  more  heed  to  their  conduct  while  in 
the  plastic  state.  We  are  spinning  our  own  fates, 
good  or  evil,  and  never  to  be  undone.  Every  small- 
est stroke  of  virtue  or  of  vice  leaves  its  never  so  little 
scar.  The  drunken  Rip  Van  Winkle,  in  Jefferson's 
play,  excuses  himself  for  every  fresh  dereliction  by 
saying,  'I  won't  count  this  time!'  Well,  he  may  not 
count  it,  and  a  kind  heaven  may  not  count  it;  but  it 
is  being  counted  none  the  less.  Down  among  his 
nerve-cells  and  fibers  the  molecules  are  counting  it, 
registering  and  storing  it  up  to  be  used  against  him 
when  the  next  temptation  comes.  Nothing  we  ever 
do  is  in  strict  literalness  wiped  out.  Of  course  this 
has  its  good  side  as  well  as  its  bad  one.  As  we  become 
permanent  drunkards  by  so  many  separate  drinks, 
so  we  become  saints  in  the  moral,  and  authorities  and 
experts  in  the  practical  and  scientific  spheres,  by  so 
many  separate  acts  and  hours  of  work.  Let  no  youth 
have  any  anxiety  about  the  upshot  of  his  education, 
whatever  the  line  of  it  may  be.  If  he  keep  faithfully 
busy  each  hour  of  the  working-day,  he  may  safely 
leave  the  final  result  to  itself.  He  can  with  perfect 
certainty  count  on  waking  up  some  fine  morning  to 
find  himself  one  of  the  competent  ones  of  his  genera- 
tion in  whatever  pursuit  he  may  have  singled  out." 

"I  wonder  whether  it  would  be  too  much  to  say  that 
a  man's  character  is  really  just  the  sum  total  of  his 
habits  of  thought  and  action?"  said  Mr.  Elkin.     "Peo- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  143 

pie  are  all  the  time  talking  about  good  characters  and 
bad  characters  and  so  on,  and  a  few  weeks  ago  I  put 
into  the  box  the  question,  'What  really  is  a  person's 
character?'  Our  talk  about  habits  seems  to  give  at 
least  a  partial  answer.' 

"It  seems  to  me,"  replied  Mr.  Henshaw,  "that 
when  we  say  any  one  has  such  and  such  a  character 
we  don't  mean  that  he  has  any  thing  in  him  which  cor- 
responds to  the  word.  We  really  mean  to  express 
briefly  the  history  of  his  behavior  and  to  make 
a  prophecy  concerning  his  future.  If  we  say,  'John 
Smith  has  an  upright  character,'  we  mean  that  in 
general  his  actions  have  been  and  will  be  upright,  not 
that  there  is  any  extract  of  uprightness  inside  of  his 
mind.  Character  means  the  way  that  a  man  has 
reacted  and  will  react  to  the  situations  he  meets  in 
life.  Of  course  his  habits  denote  a  lot  of  particular 
ways  of  acting,  and  the  sum  total  of  them  will  be 
a  large  part  of  his  character." 

"But  mustn't  there  be  sojnething  in  him  to  cause 
these  actions,  something  which  is  the  basis  of  his  be- 
havior?" said  Miss  Clark. 

'^Certainly.  The  connections  formed  in  his  brain 
would  be  the  cause,  in  this  sense,  of  his  behavior,  and 
the  difference  between  two  men  of  different  characters 
would  be  that  in  their  brains  there  were  different  cell 
connections.  I  meant  that  there  was  no  one  object  or 
thing  corresponding  to  character." 

"Can't  we  see  a  little  more  closely  what  the  basis 
of  character  is?"  said  Arthur.  "What  you  say  would 
be  true  of  a  man's  whole  nature  or  make-up,  and  if 
you   mean   to   refer   to   that   when  you  use  the  word 


144  The  Human  Nature  Club 

character,  all  right.  Then  our  whole  study  has  been 
of  the  elements  of  character.  Instincts,  habits,  sense 
powers,  etc.,  all  have  a  share.  But  suppose  that  we 
take  as  our  meaning  for  character  the  permanent  gen- 
eral trend  of  a  ma?i  s  mind,  as  opposed  to  the  occa- 
sional, accidental  and  inconsistent  in  his  life.  That, 
I  take  it,  is  what  we  often  do  mean.  For  instance,  we 
say  that  so  and  so  acted  contrary  to  his  general  char- 
acter, or  though  he  was  of  a  good  moral  character  he 
committed  one  great  crime,  or  this  one  act  of  heroism 
is  the  bright  spot  on  a  cowardly  and  base  character. 
We  oppose  a  man's  general  character  to  his  particular 
acts.  Any  one  of  them  may  or  may  not  be  in  accord 
with  it.  According  to  Henshaw's  account,  such  talk 
would  be  bosh,  for  a  man's  character,  he  says,  is  the 
sum  of  all  his  tendencies  to  action,  and  so  we  couldn't 
ever  act  contrary  to  our  characters.  Of  course,  one 
is  at  liberty  to  take  any  meaning  for  the  word,  but 
I'd  rather  hear  you  discuss  the  sort  of  thing  I've 
described." 

"I'm  in  favor  of  that  myself,"  replied  Mr.  Hen- 
shaw.  "It  will  be  a  more  definite  topic.  I  suppose 
a  man's  habits  would  still  be  a  part  of  his  character  in 
this  sense. " 
y  "Yes;  they  are  among  the  stable,  permanent 
factors  that  determine  his  behavior." 

"Another  thing  would  be  his  general  temperament, 
would  it  not?"  said  Miss  Atwell.  "Some  people,  like 
Mrs.  Slocum,  are  chronically  pensive  and  sentimental, 
though  of  course  on  occasions  they  may  become  differ- 
ent. Others,  like  Mr.  Ripley,  are  generally  sanguine 
and  hopeful,  and  take  things  vigorously.      Others  are 


The  Human  Nature  Club  145 

generally  slow  and  dull  and  apathetic.  Some  people's 
minds  seem  to  move  quickly,  others  slowly;  some  to 
feel  things  deeply,  to  take  ideas  or  feelings  hard,  so 
to  speak,  others  to  be  little  impressed  by  things. 
I  should  think  that  all  these  differences  of  tempera- 
ment, of  general  mental  action  and  general  emotional 
tone,  were  factors  in  the  character  of  any  one." 

"We  mustn't  forget  a  man's  stock  of  ideas  and 
conceptions,"  said  ]\Ir.  Tasker.  "If  we  leave  out  of 
account  the  chance  ideas  and  opinions  that  vary  from 
week  to  week,  and  think  of  the  permanent  store  of 
ideas  which  a  man  keeps  unchanged  through  a  long 
period  of  his  life,  we  shall  have  to  agree  that  they 
help  to  determine  the  general  aspects  of  a  man's  con- 
duct. A  man's  religious  creed,  his  political  opinions, 
his  ideas  about  life  and  work  and  money  and  study 
and  friendship  and  love — in  fact,  his  entire  circle  of 
thought  upon  important  subjects — all  are  parts  of 
this  permanent  background  of  his  nature  which  we 
call  his  character." 

"His  habits,  his  emotional  temperament,  his  gen- 
eral mode  of  mental  action,  his  circle  of  thoughts — 
that  is  a  pretty  fair  analysis  of  a  man's  character," 
said  Mr.  Elkin. 

"Yet  you've  forgotten  one  important  factor, 
I  think,"  said  his  wife,  "the  man's  ideals.  We  are 
not  only  what  we  have  and  what  we  have  done,  but 
also  what  we  wish  to  be  and  do.  A  man's  standards 
of  conduct,  his  aims  in  life,  the  intellectual  nature 
which  he  admires,  to  which  he  tries  to  attain,  are 
a  part  of  him.  You  might  include  these  ideals  of 
honor,  duty,  truth  and   love  among  his  ideas,  but  at 


146  The  Human  Nature  Club 

least  we  should  remember  that  they  are  ideas  of 
a  special  sort,  and  are  of  special  importance  in 
estimating  his  character.  His  habits,  temperament, 
mode  of  mental  action,  permanent  conceptions,  and 
his  ideals — these  together  are  a  man's  character." 

"Happy  the  man  who  has  a  large  store  of  useful 
habits  of  thought  and  action,  who  is  of  a  cheerful, 
matter-of-fact  temperament,  whose  mind  works 
steadily  and  fast  and  with  a  broad  field  of  conscious- 
ness, who  is  furnished  with  a  large  stock  of  sensible 
opinions  and  cherishes  sane  and  noble  ideals." 

"A  very  good  speech,  Henshaw;  but  I  don't  see 
just  how  one  can  acquire  some  of  these  elements  of 
a  first-rate  character.  We've  seen  what  habits  are 
due  to,  how  a  man's  ideas  and  ideals  come,  but  I'm 
not  sure  about  his  temperament  and  about  such  gen- 
eral characteristics  as  quick  and  slow  thinking, 
intense  and  shallow,  broad  and  narrow  fields  of  con- 
sciousness. " 

*'I  don't  myself  know  just  what  those  are  due  to, 
or  how  they  can  be  acquired,  or  how  far  their  acquisi- 
tion is  under  our  control.     Does  any  one?" 

**We'll  have  to  leave  those  questions  open.  At 
any  rate,  we've  done  a  good  thing  in  clearing  up 
a  vague  fact — character — and  showing  the  different 
familiar  elements  which  really  compose  it.  We  can 
see  now  what  we  mean  by  character  changing.  New 
habits,  new  ideas  and  ideals,  modifications  of  tem- 
perament and  mode  of  mental  action  would  all  change 
character.  We  can  see  what  we  mean  when  we  say, 
'His  righteous  character  kept  him  from  giving  way  to 
a  natural   impulse  to  revenge. '     We  mean,  of  course, 


The  Human  Nature  Club  147 

that  fixed  habits  of  tolerance,  ideas  of  the  folly  of 
retaliation,  and  a  well-balanced  temperament  inhibited 
the  temporary  impulse.  We  can  interpret  such  words 
as  fickle,  pig-headed,  pliable,  etc.,  when  applied  to 
character." 

"Yes.     I  think  we'd  better  be  satisfied  with  the 
evening's  work,  and  adjourn." 


i 


CHAPTER   XIII 

SUGGESTION 

"l  suppose  that  our  first  business  to-night  will 
naturally  be  to  talk  over  the  exhibition  of  hypnotism 
which  most  of  us  attended  and  which  Mr.  Henshaw 
took  part  in  as  a  subject.  What  observations  about 
the  state  of  hypnosis  did  you  make  while  you  yourself 
were  in  that  state,  Mr.  Henshaw?" 

"I  don't  know.  I  forgot  all  that  happened  during 
the  time  I  was  hypnotized  as  soon  as  the  operator 
woke  me.  I  shouldn't  know  a  thing  that  I'd  said  or 
done  unless  people  had  told  me  about  it.  My  only 
observation,  therefore,  must  be  that  when  some  peo- 
ple are  hypnotized,  they  lose,  on  leaving  the  state  of 
hypnosis,  al!  memories  of  what  occurred  therein." 

"That  isn't  true  of  all  people,  for  Fred  Davenport 
told  me  that  he  did  remember  what  he  had  done." 

"Quite  so.  I  probably  went  into  a  much  deeper 
hypnotic  trance  than  Fred,  for  I've  had  experience 
with  hypnosis  before.  When  I  was  a  reporter  in  New 
York  years  ago  I  had  occasion  to  be  hypnotized 
a  number  of  times.  If  one  goes  into  only  a  very  light 
hypnotic  sleep,  he  may  remember." 

"What  do  you  suppose  makes  that  forgetfulness?" 
asked  Miss  Atwell. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  it's  something  like  our  for- 
getfulness of  our  dreams.  There  aren't  any  connec- 
tions between  our  ordinary  waking  life  and  either  our 

148 


The  Human  Nature  Club  149 

dream  experiences  or  our  experiences  while  hypno- 
tized. The  two  systems  of  thought  are  widely  sepa- 
rated, dissociated,  and  so  one  doesn't  call  up  the  other. 
Experiences  of  one  trance  may  be  called  up  in  another 
trance.  I'm  rather  interested  in  these  exhibitions, 
and  I  went  three  nights.  My  office  boy  had  been 
hypnotized  Monday  night,  and  on  Tuesday  morning 
couldn't  tell  me  a  fourth  of  the  things  he'd  done. 
I  asked  the  operator  to  hypnotize  him  Wednesday, 
and  tell  him  to  remember  what  he'd  done  Monday 
night.  He  did  so,  and  the  boy  when  hypnotized 
remembered  nearly  everything.  The  important  thing 
shown  by  this  forgetfulness  is  that  the  thoughts  and 
acts  of  deeply  entranced  subjects  are  cut  off  from 
their  ordinary  mental   life,  form  a  separate  system." 

"That  may  all  be,"  said  Mr.  Elkin;  "but  how  in  the 
world  can  a  sane  man  like  Judge  Rodney  be  induced 
to  hug  a  broomstick,  and  go  around  on  all  fours  bark- 
ing, no  matter  what  system  he's  in?" 

"I  don't  suppose,"  said  Arthur,  "that  any  one  can 
say  just  how  he  is  induced  with  surety,  but  it  strikes 
me  that  this  dissociation  from  one's  ordinary  thoughts 
would  give  us  a  clue.  In  dreams  we  are  dogs,  or 
soldiers,  or  millionaires,  and  act  as  such  because 
somehow  the  idea  that  we  are  starts  up,  and  the 
ordinary  course  of  ideas  which  would  naturally  cofne 
up  and  shotv  us  the  folly  of  such  a  notion  is  not  in  run- 
ning order.  We  saw  in  thinking  about  the  will  that 
every  idea  tended  to  be  believed  in  and  to  work  itself 
out  in  action  if  it  wasn't  prevented.  Ordinarily 
a  false  idea — e.  g.,  that  I  am  Napoleon — is  at  once 
denied  belief  or  motor  effects  by   other  ideas  which 


150  The  Human  Nature  Club 

are  called  up,  such  as,  'But  your  name  is  Ralston,' 
'But  you  live  in  1900,'  'But  you  are  five  feet  eleven,' 
'But  you  aren't  Napoleon,'  etc.  But  suppose  a  man's 
brain  to  be  so  affected  in  the  hypnotic  trance  that 
ordinary  associates  don't  come  up,  that  only  those 
associated  ideas  come  up  at  any  time  which  are  in 
harmony  with  the  operator's  suggestions.  Why 
shouldn't  he  bark  when  the  idea  of  being  a  dog  is  put 
into  his  head?  Why  shouldn't  he  strut  and  be  pom- 
pous when  told  that  he  is  the  emperor  of  Germany?" 
"But  why,"  said  Miss  Fairbanks,  "does  he  receive 
such  ideas?  Why  does  hypnosis  make  a  man  so  sug- 
gestible, so  ready  to  take  any  idea  from  the  oper- 
ator?" 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Arthur.  "Do  you,  Henshaw?" 
"I  don't  know  that  any  one  does,"  was  the  reply. 
"We  can  simply  see  that  in  this  half-awake,  half- 
asleep  condition  that  we  call  the  hypnotic  trance  any 
one  is  an  easy  victim  to  suggestion.  We  can  see  that 
he  does  realize  the  ideas  presented  by  the  operator, 
and  we  can  suppose  that  he  does  not  realize,  at  least 
not  emphatically,  the  contradictory  ideas  which  in 
a  normal  condition  he  would.  I  should  say  that  the 
essential  of  the  hypnotic  condition  was  suggestibility, 
uncritical  acceptance  of  ideas,  but  why  that  is  so  is 
beyond  us.  The  case  is  the  same  with  sleep.  Why 
should  a  man,  just  because  he  is  in  the  sleeping  state, 
believe  in  all  sorts  of  absurd  things,  lack  his  custom- 
ary, criticising  ideas?  The  latter  state  is  so  common 
that  we  don't  marvel  at  it,  but  if  it  happened  only 
once  or  twice  in  a  lifetime,  we'd  doubtless  puzzle  over 
»t,  much  as  we  do  over  hypnotism," 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


151 


"It  is  wonderful,  isn't  it,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin,  "to 
what  lengths  the  power  of  the  operator's  suggestions 
may  go.  Do  you  remember  how  he  made  that  woman 
drink  vinegar  by  calling  it  soda-water?  She  smacked 
her  lips  over  it,  too.  Her  very  sensations  were  modi- 
fied." 

"Yes,"  added  Miss  Fairbanks;  "and  he  could 
abolish  sensations  as  well  as  modify  them.  She  let 
him  stick  a  needle  right  through  her  tongue,  and 
apparently  didn't  feel  it  at  all." 

"Of  course  you  folks  know,"  said  Dr.  Leighton, 
"that  people  have  had  all  sorts  of  operations  per- 
formed upon  them  while  hypnotized.  Arms  have 
been  amputated,  teeth  extracted,  children  born,  with- 
out the  least  pain.  In  fact,  the  medical  profession 
was  just  taking  up  hypnotism  as  a  method  of  angesthe- 
tizing  people  when  the  discoveries  of  ether  and  chloro- 
form provided  anaesthesia  in  another  way.  Hypno- 
tism is  still  used  in  certain  cases." 

"You  shouldn't  have  kept  still  and  let  us  show  our 
ignorance,  Dr.  Leighton.  Probably  you  know  all 
about  hypnotism." 

"I  think  you've  got  at  all  that  I  could  have  said, 
and  put  it  in  a  better  way.  As  you've  said,  the 
hypnotic  trance  is  first  of  all  a  condition  of  mind  in 
which  a  person  is  extraordinarily  suggestible.  Any 
idea  or  hint  given  him  is  accepted.  You  say,  'You 
are  a  soldier,'  and  he  marches  in  time,  with  shoulders 
back,  salutes  you,  etc.  His  suggestibility  makes  him 
in  many  cases  an  easy  victim  of  illusions  and  hallu- 
cinations. He  will  see  a  stick  as  a  gun,  or  hear  a 
series  of  screeches  as  a  fine  song,  or  will  feel  that  he  is 


152 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


freezing  or  hungry  or  is  a  six-year-old  child,  all  at  your 
slightest  suggestion.  He  will  be  unable  to  make  move- 
ments which  you  suggest  he  cannot  make,  unable  to  feel 
pains  which  you  suggest  do  not  exist.  In  the  second 
place,  the  hypnotic  state  seems,  as  you've  said,  to 
represent  a  system  of  ideas  and  behavior  split  off  from 
a  man's  ordinary  mental  system.  The  events  that 
take  place  in  it  tend  to  be  forgotten,  and  there  is  evi- 
dence that  the  irrationality  and  subservience  to  sug- 
gestion are  the  results  of  this  split-off,  dissociated 
condition.  There  is  no  inhibition,  no  restraint,  no 
criticism,  because  the  ordinary  associations  of  ideas 
and  ordinary  habits  of  action  don't  come  into  play." 

"I've  read  of  a  hypnotized  person  who  was  able  to 
hear  a  watch  tick  in  the  next  room  when  no  one  else 
could,  and  of  another  who  would  read  through  the 
back  of  a  book,  the  operator  holding  the  book  open 
and  looking  at  the  printed  page.  The  way  the  sub- 
ject did  it  was  to  look  at  the  tiny  image  of  the  page  in  the 
operator's  eye}  If  these  cases  were  true,  it  would 
show  that  in  the  hypnotic  trance  the  senses  may 
become  extraordinarily  acute." 

"They  doubtless  do,  Mr.  Tasker.  Your  case  is 
from  a  reputable  book.  The  same  man,  it  is  said, 
could  see  with  the  naked  eye  things  which  in  his  ordi- 
nary state  he  couldn't  see  at  all  without  a  micro- 
scope. " 

"After  all,  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "is  this  extreme  sus- 
ceptibility to  suggestion  such  a  very  peculiar  and  iso- 
lated fact?  Isn't  it  true  that  we  are  all  the  time  doing 
things  just  from  suggestion  without  any  real  reason? 

'See  James's  "  Psychology,"  Vol.  II,  p.  609. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  153 

When  a  political  speaker  controls,  as  we  say,  the 
minds  of  thousands  of  men,  so  that  they  vote  or  act 
as  he  desires,  he  often  doesn't  do  it  by  argument  or 
reasons,  or  by  influencing  their  rational  opinion,  but 
just  by  persistently  and  adroitly  suggesting  certain 
ideas.  When  a  skillful  lawyer  gets  hold  of  a  certain 
sort  of  witness,  we  know  that  he  can  make  him  say  or 
deny  almost  anything.  He  does  it,  I  believe,  largely 
by  using  the  force  of  suggestion.  Take  a  mob  of 
men  who  lynch  a  man  or  start  a  riot.  They  act  from 
suggestion.  I  talked  with  one  of  the  men  in  the  mob 
of  strikers  at  Lawrence  who  burned  down  the  mill. 
He  was  a  thoroughly  decent  fellow,  and  I  wondered 
how  he  came  to  do  such  a  thing,  so  I  asked  him. 
'I  don't  really  know,'  he  said;  'I  just  had  to  do  it. 
The  impulse  got  hold  of  me,  I  suppose,  because  the 
crowd  was  doing  it.  I  didn't  think  why  or  why  not, 
or  of  anything  but  just  of  burning  that  building 
down.'  " 

Note. — One  of  the  most  emphatic  cases  of  the  power  of 
suggestion  to  make  a  man  act  contrary  to  his  real  nature  and 
convictions  is  given  by  Dr,  Sidis  in  his  book  entitled  "The 
Psychology  of  Suggestion"  :  "While  Sokolov  was  fighting  hard 
for  his  life,  I  saw  a  corporal  lying  on  the  piazza  and  crying 
bitterly.  On  my  question,  'Why  do  you  cry?'  he  pointed  in 
the  direction  of  the  mob  and  exclaimed, '  Oh,  they  do  not  kill  a 
commander,  but  a  father!'  1  told  him  that  instead  o£  it  he 
should  rather  go  to  Sokolov's  aid.  He  rose  at  once  and  ran 
to  the  help  of  his  commander.  A  little  later  when  I  came 
with  a  few  soldiers  to  Sokolov's  help,  I  found  the  same  corporal 
striking  Sokolov  with  a  club.  'Wretch,  what  are  you  doing? 
Have  you  not  told  me  he  was  to  you  like  a  father?'  To  which 
he  answered,  '  It  is  such  a  time,  your  honor;  all  the  people 
strike  him;  why  should  I  keep  quiet?" — page  305. 


154  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"In  schools,"  said  Miss  Atwell,  "I've  often  seen 
teachers  get  answers  from  their  scholars  which  they 
thought  were  the  result  of  knowledge  or  interest,  but 
which  I  could  see  were  really  the  results  of  the  teach- 
er's own  suggestions.  For  instance,  a  teacher  says, 
'How  many  children  think  this  poem  is  very  beauti- 
ful?' and  all  the  youngsters  raise  their  hands,  though 
they  may  in  reality  have  been  bored  to  death  by  it. 
As  for  the  production  of  hallucinations,  I've  read  of 
this  experiment.  A  man  brought  to  a  schoolroom  an 
atomizer  full  of  water.  He  talked  to  the  children 
about  spring  and  violets,  and  how  nicely  they  smelt, 
and  then  he  went  around  spraying  the  water  and 
asked  the  children  what  they  smelt.  A  big  percent- 
age of  them  smelt  violets  very  strongly,  and  were  sure 
that  the  atomizer  had  perfumery  in  it." 

"I  think  that  often  our  feelings  toward  paintings 
and  poems  and  artistic  things  are  really  due  to  sug- 
gestion, not  to  real  reasons.  We  enjoy  and  admire 
those  things  which  we  expect  to  enjoy  and  admire. 
Do  you  remember  the  story  of  John  Kendrick  Bangs' 
'Idiot,'  who  told  the  people  at  his  boarding-house 
that  he  had  written  a  sonnet,  and  repeated  one  of 
Shakspere's  to  them.  They  all  felt  it  to  be  trash, 
and  ridiculed  him  unmercifully.  If  he'd  started  out 
by  saying,  'You  all  probably  admire  that  famous  sonnet 
by  Shakspere,'  I  dare  say  he  could  have  repeated 
some  perfect  bosh  and  still  held  them  enthralled." 

"It  seems  perfectly  clear  that  suggestion  plays 
a  great  role  outside  of  the  hypnotic  state,  but  I  sup- 
pose we'd  all  agree  that  in  the  hypnotic  state  one's 
susceptibility  to  suggestion  is  vastly  increased," 


The  Human  Nature  Club  155 

"And  the  manner  of  the  suggestion  is  likely  to  be 
very  different  in  the  two  cases,  isn't  it?"  said  Mr. 
Henshaw.  "If  the  striker  I  mentioned  had  been 
hypnotized,  you  could  have  said,  'Light  this  match; 
put  it  there,'  and  he  would  have  obeyed  your  direct 
command,  whereas  actually  the  suggestion  came  in 
a  rather  subtle,  indirect  way.  The  cries  of  the  mob 
against  the  owners,  the  insinuation  of  the  leader  that 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  their  old  mill  was  de- 
stroyed, etc.,  gave  the  suggestion  in  a  masked  form. 
So  with  your  children.  Your  man  couldn't  have 
come  in,  said  nothing  but  'Smell  this;  it's  violet  per- 
fume,' and  succeeded  in  producing  the  hallucination. 
He  could  have  if  the  youngsters  had  been  hypnotized. 
As  it  was,  he  had  to  mask  his  suggestion,  make  it 
indirectly.  So  with  your  sonnet.  The  Idiot  couldn't 
have  said,  'This  poem  is  bad;  you  will  detest  it,'  as 
one  could  to  a  hypnotized  person.  He  made  the  sug- 
gestion that  they  would  ridicule  it  by  attributing  it  to 
himself.  Suggestions  to  normal  people  seem  to  work 
best  when  they  are  masked  or  made  indirectly,  while 
they  work  with  hypnotized  people  no  matter  how 
direct  and  barefaced  they  may  be." 

"I  think,"  said  Mr.  Elkin,  "that  a  man  I  used  to 
work  for  had  at  least  a  practical  knowledge  of  that 
fact.  He  wouldn't  say,  'Do  this,'  or,  'You  must  get 
this  done  before  dinner,'  but  he'd  say,  'When  you  get 
those  boxes  all  arranged,  you  come  to  me,  say  about 
eleven  o'clock';  or,  'I'd  like  to  have  you  do  some 
copying  for  me  after  you  get  those  boxes  all  nicely 
arranged.  Come  about  eleven.*  He  would  not  com- 
mand,  but  would  suggest,  would  take  it  for  granted 


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that  I'd  do  that  arranging  as  fast  as  I  could,  and  the 
result  used  to  be  that  I'd  work  like  a  beast  at  the 
job,  whatever  it  was,  because  I  didn't  think  of  doing 
otherwise.  If  he'd  ordered  me  to  get  the  work  done 
by  eleven,  I  probably  would  have  expected  it  to  take 
a  longer  time,  and  wouldn't  have  worked  so  fast." 

"I  can  assure  you  that  suggestion,  as  you  call  it,  is 
a  necessary  method  with  children,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston. 
"We  all  know  that  if  you  say  to  a  child,  'Now  I'm 
going  away,  and   you   must   not   go  out  of  the  yard ; 
don't  go   near    the  brook,   of    all   things,"   you'll    be 
likely  when  you  come  back  to  find  the  youngster  all 
wet  from  paddling  in  that  very  brook.  -^Your  command 
acted  as  a  suggestion  to  the  very  thing  you  wished 
to  avoid.'^I  remember,  too,  how  well  an  indirect  sug- 
gestion once  worked  with  a  five-year-old  boy  in  a  Sun- 
day-school class.      He  was  behaving  very  badly,  and 
I  made  him  sit  beside  me,  where  I  was  keeping  him 
fairly  quiet.     To  show  off,  he  said:  'If  I  had  a  whip, 
I'd  lick  you;  I'd  lick  you  all  to  pieces.     You're  a  fool,' 
and   all   such   things.      I   said   to   the  other  children. 
'Isn't  it  too  bad  that  Harry  isn't  big  enough  to  sit  up 
by  himself  and  keep  still?'     Immediately  he  spoke  up- 
'I  guess  I  can  sit  still  as  well  as  anybody,'  and  he  took 
his  own  seat,  and  was  as  quiet  as  a  mouse  for  fifteen 
minutes. '- An    ounce    of    suggestion    is    often    worth 
a  pound  of  commands  or  reproofs. '' 

"We  can  suggest  to  ourselves,  too,"  said  Miss 
Fairbanks.  "If  I  feel  that  I'm  going  to  play  well,  if 
I  say  to  myself,  'You  have  that  piece  well  in  hand; 
you'll  do  better  to-night  than  ever  before ;  you  needn't 
have  any  fears  about  this  concert,'  I  will  do  well.     If, 


The  Human  Nature  Club  157 

on  the  contrary,  some  train  of  thought  gets  me  to 
thinking  about  possible  mistakes  and  failures,  I'm 
likely  to  make  them.  Self-confidence  might  be  called 
self-suggestion  of  success,  I  should  think." 

"It's  interesting  to  see,"  said  Mr.  Tasker,  "how 
an  odd,  abnormal  aspect  of  human  nature  like  the 
hypnotic  trance  leads  us,  when  we  study  it,  to  a  lot 
of  information  about  everyday  life.  We've  seen  that 
it  is  directly  due  to  the  tendency  of  all  ideas  to  com- 
mand one's  belief,  and  to  result  in  appropriate  move- 
ments unless  they  are  counteracted  by  other  ideas  and 
habits.  We've  found  suggestion  to  be  at  the  bottom 
of  many  of  the  facts  of  mob  nature,  school  life,  home 
education,  the  witness-stand,  literary  appreciation, 
and  self-confidence.  I  have  a  notion  that  suggestion 
may  also  account  for  two  observations  which  Miss 
Clark  put  in  the  box  weeks  ago.  Won't  you  read 
them  to  us.  Miss  Clark?" 

Miss  Clark  read:  "  'I  once  went  to  see  a  'healer' 
who  had  attracted  large  crowds.  He  had  evidently 
made  an  impression  on  the  public,  for  over  a  hundred 
people,  some  paralytic,  some  with  goitres,  some  lame, 
were  there.  He  was  a  very  imposing  man  in  appear- 
ance, and  in  the  half  hour's  speech  with  which  the 
performance  began,  his  rich  voice  and  confident  man- 
ner almost  made  one  believe  what  he  said,  though  it 
was  perfect  trash.  Finally  he  let  twenty  sick  people 
come  on  the  platform.  He  had  been  doing  this  each 
day  for  two  weeks,  so  he  couldn't  have  hired  them  to 
be  confederates.      It  would  have  cost  too  much. 

"  'One  case  was  very  striking.  A  man  had  come 
up  whose  right  hand  was  all  contracted  and  bent.      He 


158  The  Human  Nature  Club 

said  he  hadn't  been  able  to  open  it  for  years.  The 
healer  said  he  would  cure  that  all  right.  He  rubbed 
the  hand  a  moment  or  so,  in  the  meantime  talking 
soothingly  about  nerves  and  vital  force  and  so  on,  and 
telling  the  man  that  he  was  getting  his  hand  back  to 
health.  "Now,"  he  said,  "it's  all  right.  The  circula- 
tion is  restored.  Open  it  out  so,"  and  he  took  hold 
of  the  man's  fingers  and  straightened  his  hand. 
"Open  it  yourself.  Shut  it.  Open  it.  There  you  are, 
sir.  That  hand  is  as  good  as  ever."  The  astonished 
man  walked  from  the  platform  down  the  aisle  of  the 
hall,  looking  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  but 
holding  his  eyes  fixed  on  that  hand  which  he  held  up 
and  alternately  opened  and  shut.' 

"I  won't  read  all  of  the  other  observation.  It 
simply  narrates  one  of  the  few  Christian  Science  cures 
I've  come  across.      It  was  a  case  of  rheumatism." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "if  suggestion  can 
make  a  needle  in  the  tongue  painless,  or  raise  a  blister, 
or  make  one's  muscles  all  rigid  so  that  one  lies  for 
twenty  minutes  with  one's  head  on  one  chair  and 
heels  on  another,  I  don't  see  why  it  may  not  be  the 
explanation  of  the  occasional  successes  of  these  Chris- 
tian Scientists,  mental  healers,  and  crank  doctors  of 
all  species.      What  do  you  think.  Dr.  Leighton?" 

"I  think  suggestion /Vat  the  bottom  of  such  cures," 
was  the  reply.  "No  matter  whether  the  crank  doctor 
talks  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  universe,  or  the 
vibrations  from  the  sun,  or  the  supremacy  of  the  mind, 
or  the  value  of  faith,  or  the  virtues  of  his  roots  and 
herbs,  or  vital  force,  or  magnetism,  no  matter  whether 


The  Human  Nature  Club  159 

he  gives  you  religious  advice,  or  a  tin  can  with  a  string 
tied  to  it,  or  a  magic  belt,  or  a  rabbit's  foot,  or  a  mes- 
sage from  the  spirits,  if  he  has  any  effect  on  you,  it  is 
probably  by  suggestion,  by  inoculating  you  with  the 
idea  that  you  are  or  will  be  well.  The  more  intel- 
ligent men  in  the  medical  profession  now  grant  that 
mere  mental  suggestion,  in  or  out  of  the  hypnotic 
trance,  can  often  help  to  cure  people  of  some  afflic- 
tions, especially  nervous  troubles  and  what  we  call 
hysterical  or  mock  diseases — where,  for  instance,  the 
patient  may  be  unable  to  see,  though  his  eyes  are  all 
right,  unable  to  move  his  arms,  though  his  muscles 
and  nerves  are  all  sound.  And  it  is  even  likely  that 
it  may  be  efficacious  over  a  wider  field  than  we  now 
think.  Of  course,  suggestion  can't  do  everything. 
Cancer,  Bright's  disease,  abscesses,  tumors,  yellow 
fever,  the  bubonic  plague,  and  such  like,  need  the 
doctor's  drugs  or  the  surgeon's  knife.  The  cranks 
abuse  it.  And  probably  it  is  much  more  efficacious 
with  some  types  of  mind  than  with  others.  Still,  it's 
a  good  thing  to  have  on  your  side.  And  a  magnetic, 
hopeful  physician,  who  inspires  confidence,  will  be 
likely  to  cure  more  people  than  one  of  the  opposite 
type.  We  all  know  that.  To  make  it  the  sole  means 
of  curing  disease,  however,  is  simply  murder.  If  you 
care  to  hear  accounts  of  some  authentic  cases  where 
reputable  physicians  have  by  suggestion  effected  cures 
comparable  to  the  supposed  successes  of  the  quacks, 
I'll  run  over  to  my  office  and  get  Bernheim's  'Sug- 
gestive Therapeutics.'  " 

While  Dr.  Leighton  was  gone,  a  number  of  stories 


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were  told  of  cures  and  failures  to  cure  by  different 
sorts  of  quacks.  He  soon  returned,  and  read  the 
following  accounts  of  some  of  Bernheim's  cases: 

'"'"'' Observation  XXVIII.  —  Aphonia  in  a  nervous 
wo?nan,  dating  back  eight  days.  — Immediate  cure  by  hyp- 
notic suggestion. 

"  'Madame  O.,  who  is  fifty-five  years  old,  is  gen- 
erally well.  She  says  that  every  winter  she  has 
hoarseness.,  which  lasts  six  weeks.  At  the  present 
time,  January  23,  1887,  she  has  had  severe  hoarseness 
for  eight  days.,  without  any  cough  or  expectoration; 
she  has  an  enlarged  gland  over  the  right  ear  and  pain 
on  the  right  side  of  the  neck.   .... 

"  'I  hypnotize  her;  in  a  few  seconds  she  is  in  som- 
nambulism [a  deep  trance].  I  suggest  the  total  dis- 
appearance of  the  aphonia;  I  make  her  talk  in  a  loud 
voice  In  a  few  minutes  I  wake  her.  To  her  great 
astonishment  her  voice  has  come  back.  She  has  remained 
cured  of  her  aphonia. 

"  ""  Observation  L.  —  Trouble  in  writing,  consecutive  to 
chorea — Cure  in  a  single  seance  of  hypnotic  suggestion. '  ' ' 

Dr.    Leighton   showed   in   the   book   copies  of  the 
boy's  writing  before   and  after  suggestion  had  been 
used.      The  copies  were  about  like  these.      The  cure 
.  was  permanent. 


':^?^;^^-^<> 


The  Human  Nature  Club  i6i 

"'■'■Observation  LXXXIV. — Arthralgia  consecutive  to 
an  arthritis. — Inwiediate  cure  by  suggestion. 

"  'D.,  twenty-one  years  old,  comes  to  consult  me 
on  April  2,  1884.  Three  months  ago,  after  having 
wheeled  a  wheelbarrow,  he  developed  a  swelling  of 
the  left  heel,  and  was  unable  to  bend  the  joint.  Six 
weeks  ago  a  physician  applied  a  starched  bandage, 
keeping  it  on  three  weeks  and  two  days.  The  band- 
age was  taken  off  fifteen  days  ago,  and  there  was  no 
improvement. 

"  'D.  limps  and  bends  his  knee  when  he  walks. 
He  cannot  bend  the  left  heel,  which  is  painful  to  pres- 
sure. The  swelling  has  disappeared.  On  the  2d 
I  hypnotized  him.  Profound  sleep;  memory  perfect 
upon  waking.  Suggestion  and  passive  movement  of 
the  joint  during  sleep. 

"  'Upon  waking,  he  bends  the  tibio-tarsal  articula- 
tion very  well  and  spontaneously  without  pain.  He 
walks  well,   ....   the  cure  has  been  maintained.' 

"For  the  last  one,"  said  Dr.  Leighton,  "I'll  read 
you  a  case  something  like  Miss  Clark's  man  at  the 
healer's. 

' '  '  Observation  LXXX.  — Rheumatic  paralysis  of  the 
forearm  and  right  hand.  ....  Total  cure  in  four  sit- 
tings. ' 

(In  the  first  two  sittings  the  patient  regained  abil- 
ity to  straighten  his  wrist,  to  lift  his  hand,  and  to 
feel  heat,  cold,  touches,  etc.,  on  its  surface.  Now 
follows  Dr.  Bernheim's  account  of  the  influence  of  the 
last  two  sittings.) 

"  'Dr.  Levy  sent  the  patient  to  my  clinic  on  June 
30 The   ?niddle,  fourth,  and  little  fingers  are 


1 62  The  Human  Nature  Club 

bent  into  the  palm  of  the  hand  at  an  afigle  of  one  hundred 

and    twenty    degrees After    two    hypnotic 

seances,  the  patient  opens  his  hand  easily The 

cure  is  complete.'  " 

"Before  we  go,  Doctor,"  said  Arthur,  "what  book 
would  you  recommend  on  this  subject?" 

"On  the  whole,  I  should  say  that  'Hypnotism,'  by 
Albert  Moll,  would  be  the  best.  The  chapter  on 
hypnotism  in  Volume  II  of  James's  'Principles  of 
Psychology'  would  be  a  good  chapter  to  read  with  it." 


i 


CHAPTER    XIV 

IMITATION 


"I  find  among  the  observations,"  said  Miss  Fair- 
banks, at  the  beginning  of  the  meeting,  "a  number  of 
statements  pointing  to  imitativeness  as  a  common 
feature  of  human  nature.  Mr.  Tasker  mentions 
a  spring  during  the  time  he  was  at  college  when  four 
men  out  of  every  six  in  the  college  wore  corduroy 
trousers,  for  no  special  reason  that  could  be  discov- 
ered. Miss  Atwell  has  some  comments  on  the  way 
styles  in  women's  dress  are  taken  up.  Mr.  Henshaw 
has  noted  that  one  war  play,  like  'Shenandoah,'  seems 
to  bring  forth  a  number  of  successors.  The  fad  for 
pictorial  and  inscribed  buttons  is  a  recent  case  that 
I  have  noticed.  Most  of  our  styles  and  fads  are  not 
due  to  real  desires,  but  to  a  human  tendency  to  fol- 
low a  leader,  to  do  the  thing  done.  If  the  club  has 
no  objection,  I'd  like  to  have  you  talk  over  imitation 
as  it  is  found  among  men  and  women." 

"The  topic  seems  to  me  very  timely,"  said  Mr. 
Tasker;  "for,  after  all,  isn't  most  of  this  imitation 
really  suggestion  over  again?  When  a  person  sets  the 
example  to  others  and  is  followed,  what  does  he  do 
but  inoculate  them  with  the  idea  of  doing  or  being 
that  thing?  The  example  spreads  in  the  way  it  does 
because  the  suggestion  is  masked.  If  a  college  boy 
bought  a  pair  of  corduroy  trousers,  and  then  went 
around  saying  to  every  one,   'You  want  to  get  some 

163 


164  The  Human  Nature  Club 

of  these;  they're  fine;  get  a  pair;  please  get  a  pair, ' 
the  chances  are  that  he  wouldn't  be  imitated;  but  as 
things  are,  the  suggestion  is  insidious,  and  the  strik- 
ing idea  of  that  novel  apparel  comes  to  possess  the 
minds  of  the  whole  college.  Imitation  of  the  sort 
displayed  in  those  observations  seems  to  me  to  be 
just  suggestion. " 

"I  suppose  we'd  all  agree,"  said  Arthur,  "that 
there  was  no  mysterious  force,  imiiatioti,  which  com- 
pelled people  to  act  as  they  do  in  these  cases.  Of 
course,  the  effect  is  produced  by  people  being  'inocu- 
lated with  ideas,'  to  use  the  phrase  we  seem  to  have 
adopted.  But  I  don't  think  we  ought  to  stop  with 
labeling  the  facts  suggestion.  How  does  the  sugges- 
tion work?  Why  do  we  imitate  some  people  and  not 
others?  How  do  these  fads,  etc.,  start?  Can  you 
tell  beforehand  what  will  and  what  won't  be  imitated?" 

''Your  second  question  interests  me,"  said  Miss 
Atwell.  "I  used  to  think  that  we  imitated  solely  the 
people  we  admired,  looked  up  to,  but  I'm  not  so  sure 
of  it  now.  I  think  that  we  tend  to  imitate  everything., 
because  we  tend  to  act  out  all  the  ideas  we  get.  And 
I'm  sure  we  often  imitate  people  whom  we  don't  look 
up  to  at  all.  For  instance,  I  found  myself  catching 
the  mannerisms  of  a  teacher  whose  methods  I  hok'  in 
very  low  esteem. " 

"There  is,  however,  a  great  deal  of  evidence  in 
favor  of  your  old  opinion,  isn't  there?"  said  Mrs. 
Elkin.  "Servants  ape  their  masters'  dress  and  ways; 
courtiers  mimic  their  king.  After  all,  we  look  up 
rather  than  down  to  find  our  models." 

"Might  it  not  be  this  way,"   said   Mr.  Henshaw. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  165 

"Suppose  we  accept  what  Miss  Atwell  says  about  the 
general  tendency  to  do  what  we  see  done,  to  follow 
any  one  who  goes,  to  become  what  any  one  is.  There 
would  then  be  a  tendency  to  imitate  most  what  we 
attended  to  most,  and  that  would  be  likely  to  be  the 
acts  of  those  we  admired.  Also  there  would  be  a 
tendency  on  our  part  to  inhibit  imitation  in  the  case 
of  people  beneath  us  morally  or  socially.  We 
would  feel,  'But  I  am  not  to  be  like  that  person.'  In 
the  case  of  those  whom  we  feel  to  be  above  us,  on 
the  other  hand,  our  natural  imitativeness  would  be 
reinforced  by  a  conscious  effort  to  emulate.  So, 
though  when  off  our  guard  we  might  imitate  anybody, 
as  Miss  Atwell  says,  the  preponderance  would  be 
decidedly  toward  imitating  our  betters — that  is,  those 
we  think  of  as  our  betters." 

"It  strikes  me,"  said  Arthur,  "that  we  often 
adopt  ideas  not  because  we  find  them  in  our  betters, 
but  because  their  source  is  mysterious,  unknown.  If 
a  woman  knew  the  Hebrew  manufacturer  who  invents 
some  new  style  of  hat,  she'd  never  buy  and  wear 
that  style  of  hat.  But  when  the  hat  appears  in  the 
store  window  as  a  new  style,  her  very  ignorance  of 
its  origin  renders  imitation  likely.  I  think  that  in 
many  cases  the  fact  that  the  suggestion  comes  from 
nowhere,  that  we  don't  know  any  reason  why  we 
should  do  a  thing,  that  there  is  no  sense  in  it,  no 
model  to  esteem  or  disdain,  favors  imitation." 

"That  may  be,"  said  Mr.  Tasker.  "At  all  events, 
in  most  things  we  are  imitators,  following  blindly  the 
lead  of  some  known  model  or  some  mysterious  ten- 
dency.    We  like  to  be  like  other  people,  that  is  one 


1 66  The  Human  Nature  Club 

reason.  Besides,  most  of  us  can't  indulge  in  the 
luxury  of  inventing  or  thinking  out  styles  and  man- 
ners and  opinions,  etc.,  for  ourselves.  We  take  them 
ready-made,  and  save  time." 

''Somebody  has  to  invent  these  things,  though; 
somebody  has  to  be  the  leader,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston. 

"Each  one  of  us  is,  I  suppose,  a  little  of  both.  In 
some  things  we  lead,  in  others  follow;  but  some  peo- 
ple are  leaders  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  others. 
Henshaw  is  the  leader,  the  inventor,  the  suggester, 
for  the  Republican  party  in  this  town;  the  rest  of  us 
are  in  politics  his  followers,  imitators,  suggestible 
subjects.  We  rehash  his  editorials  in  our  conv>ersa- 
tion,  originating  perhaps  some  modifications  of  our 
own." 

"And  I,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "largely  repeat  the 
ideas  of  the  big  editors  and  statesmen,  inventing  here 
and  there  an  idea,  perhaps  once  a  year.  The  real 
originators  are  few  and  far  between.  Luckily,  their 
inventions,  though  hard  to  originate,  are  easy  to  copy. 
Progress  would  be  inconceivably  slow  if  we  had  to 
wait  for  each  individual  to  invent  every  reform  or  new 
idea  or  new  method  for  himself.  It's  well  for  us  that 
inventions,  new  ideas,  are  like  the  plague  or  smallpox; 
they  can  spread  by  infection." 

"You  might  add,"  said  Mr.  Elkin,  "that  as  in  the 
case  of  infectious  diseases,  some  people  have  great 
power  of  resisting  the  germs." 

"We  have  been  gradually  broadening  our  use  of 
the  word  imitation  until  we've  brought  it  to  mean  the 
source  of  all  our  acquisitions  save  those  resulting  from 
accident  or  absolutely  original  invention,"  said  Miss 


The  Human  Nature  Club  167 

Atwell.  "We  mustn't  forget  that  we  are  not  talking 
about  exactly  the  same  process  as  we  were  when  we 
started.  It's  interesting,  however,  to  see  that  you 
can  express  the  entire  process  of  civilization  by  two 
facts,  invention  and  imitation." 

"It  maybe  interesting,"  said  Arthur,  "but  I  think 
it's  too  vague  to  be  profitable.  It's  easy  enough  to 
say  that  everything  in  people  must  be  either  the  result 
of  their  own  mental  activities  or  the  repetition  of 
other  people's,  and  it's  easy  to  call  the  former  inven- 
tion and  the  latter  imitation,  but  what  of  it?  What 
good  does  such  talk  do  if  we  don't  see  in  concrete 
detail  how  this  imitation  occurs?  When  you  start  to 
make  sweeping  statements  about  the  world  at  large, 
and  to  tack  names  to  processes  you  don't  understand, 
I  feel  like  calling  the  club  to  order." 

"We  accept  your  rebuke,  Arthur,"  replied  Mr. 
Tasker;  "and  I'll  leave  our  flight  into  speculation 
about  civilization  and  return  to  definite  facts  by 
reporting  an  observation  of  mine  to  the  effect  that 
whereas  the  object  of  girls'  imitation  is  generally 
distinguished  for  good  looks,  the  boy  who  is  imitated 
by  other  boys  rarely  is.  In  other  respects  the  imi- 
tation of  girls  differs  from  that  among  boys." 

"Oh,  Mr.  Henshaw!"  cried  Miss  Clark;  "that 
reminds  me  that  you've  never  told  us  your  opinions 
about  the  human  nature  of  women,  how  their  minds 
differ  from  men's,  and  that  sort  of  thing.  Won't  you 
now?" 

"I  think  I'd  better  not  interrupt  our  investigation 
of  imitation. " 

"I    wouldn't    mind    that,     Henshaw,"    said    Mr. 


1 68  The  Human  Nature  Club 

Tasker.  "I  think  human  imitation  is  too  complex 
a  matter  for  us  to  see  far  into.  We've  noted  its 
common  occurrence,  the  sort  of  person  imitated,  and 
have  all  doubtless  thought  of  the  added  importance 
given  to  our  conduct  by  the  fact  that  it  is  a  germ  that 
spreads  to  other  people.  I  don't  think  we  need  dwell 
on  the  topic  longer." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Henshaw,  "first  of  all,  women 
seem  to  me  to  be  decidedly  different  from  men  in 
their  mental  abilities.  They  are  naturally  less  in- 
dependent and  aggressive,  more  docile  and  obedi- 
ent." 

"I  don't  believe  they  are  naturally  so,"  said, Mrs. 
Elkin.  "I  think  it's  all  due  to  their  training.  The 
little  girl  is  not  left  to  her  own  devices  so  much:  she 
is  taught  to  pay  more  regard  to  conventional  opinion. 
It  is  not  thought  to  be  nice  if  she  shows  independence 
of  spirit  or  mind.  Originality  isn't  fostered  in  her  as 
it  is  in  the  boy.  People  say  women  never  reason,  but 
when  that's  the  case  it's  because  they  haven't  been 
given  the  chance  to.  It  doesn't  pay  for  them  to. 
They  would  be  reasonable  if  people  wanted  them  to 
be.  The  trouble  is  that  all  people  expect  of  a  girl  is 
that  she  shall  be  agreeable." 

The  discussion  of  the  mental  differences  between 
men  and  women  became  very  lively,  and  the  editor 
finds  more  rash  statements  and  warmth  of  argument 
than  real  observations  of  human  nature.  Mr.  Hen- 
shaw had  little  chance  to  report  his  opinions,  and 
what  he  did  say  seemed  to  be  only  opinion,  not  ob- 
served fact.  Indeed,  at  the  end  of  the  discussion 
Arthur  wisely  remarked  that  the  club  had  gone  beyond 


The  Human  Nature  Club  169 

their  depth  in  trying  to  handle  such  vague  questions 
as  imitation  or  the  psychology  of  the  sexes. 

Before  adjournment,  Mr.  Henshaw  asked  the  club 
to  be  ready  at  the  next  meeting  to  present  facts  about 
mental  training,  general  development  of  mental  ability. 


>. 


CHAPTER  XV 

MENTAL   TRAINING 

"I  announced  last  time  that  I  wanted  to  have  the 
club  think  over  the  question  of  how  people  can 
improve  their  intellectual  powers,  how  they  can  train 
their  minds.  Arthur  has  been  experim.enting  with 
the  matter  in  a  modest  way,  and  later  we'll  hear  from 
him.  From  our  study  so  far  'the  mind'  seems  to  be 
just  a  name  for  the  fact  that  we  have  thoughts  and 
feelings,  and  what  'the  mind'  can  do  seems  to  be  just 
to  have  certain  particular  thoughts  on  the  proper 
occasions.  The  quality  of  a  person's  mind  seems  to 
depend  on  the  particular  ideas  it  has.  We've  found 
that  there  was  no  'power  of  memory,'  but  really  thou- 
sands of  memories  J  that  there  was  no  'power  of  atten- 
tion,' but  only  superior  clearness  and  prominence  of 
certain  thoughts;  that  'reason'  was  just  a  name  for 
the  fact  that  certain  ideas  were  dwelt  on  and  others 
inhibited.  What  do  all  you  school-teachers  mean, 
Tasker,  when  you  talk  about  training  discrimination, 
training  memory,  cultivating  the  power  of  reason,  etc.? 

"I  suppose  some  of  them  do  mean  that  there  are 
some  mysterious  forces,  or  mental  dynamos,  each  of 
which  does  some  one  kind  of  thing,  remember,  or 
reason,  or  what  not,  and  that  education  somehow  gets 
these  wonderful  engines  going  and  keeps  their  wheels 
greased.  I  remember  once  hearing  a  man  at  a  teach- 
ers*  institute    compare  the   mind   to   a    big  machine. 

170 


The  Human  Nature  Club  171 

'Sensations  are  thrown  into  the  hopper  at  one  end,'  he 
said,  'attention  makes  them  clear  and  intense,  per- 
ception, imagination  and  memory  in  turn  work  them 
over.  They  are  changed  into  general  notions  by  the 
action  of  conception,  and  are  then  subjected  to  the 
influence  of  the  reason,  which  turns  out  the  finished 
product.'     Of  course,  that  sort  of  a  view  is  all  bosh." 

"But  I  don't  see  the  impossibility  of  training  apart 
from  learning  particular  things.  What  we  mean  by 
greater  mental  power,  by  greater  power  of  discrimina- 
tion, for  instance,  is  that  all  discriminative  acts  are 
more  delicate.  >Vhat  we  mean  by  saying  that  one 
person  has  more  reasoning  power  than  another,  is 
that  his  reasonings  in  all  sorts  of  lines  will  be  more 
successful.  "^If  you  don't  like  the  word  'power,'  take 
the  words  'general  ability.'  If  a  person's  general 
ability  is  improved,  it  seems  to  me  fair  to  say  that 
you've  trained  his  mind." 

"May  I  put  Henshaw's  question  in  another  way? 
Let's  ask,  'Does  special  training  give  general  ability?' 
As  Henshaw  says,  our  nervous  systems  seem  to  be 
schemes  for  associating  particular  acts  with  particular 
situations,  particular  ideas  with  other  ideas.  We  can 
see  how  studying  arithmetic  makes  a  boy  able  to 
reason  with  numbers,  for  the  study  has  given  him  the 
system  of  particular  associations  needed.  Henshaw's 
point,  I  take  it,  is  that  there's  no  reason  why  those 
particular  associations  should  make  him  any  better 
able  to  reason  about  religious  creeds.  Training  in 
arithmetic  surely  gives  special  ability,  but  does  it  give 
S'ener al  ahWhy?  Wouldn't  you,  to  be  trained  to  really 
general  reasoning,   have  to  reason  about  all   sorts  of 


1J2  The  Human  Nature  Club 

things?     That's  really  your  problem,    isn't   it,    Hen- 
shaw?" 

"Yes.  It  seems  to  me  that  learning  one  thing 
makes  you  able  to  do  that  thing,  but  doesn't  add  to 
any  general  mental  capacity." 

"But  if  that  were  so,  how  could  people  vary  so 
much  in  their  abilities  to  handle  novel  problems  in 
life?  Some  people  surely  do  have  better  judgment 
than  others  in  all  sorts  of  matters  for  which  they've 
received  no  special  preparation.  Surely,  Mr.  Tasker 
could  do  better,  say  on  a  North  Pole  expedition,  or 
in  a  Chinese  meeting,  than  Mike  Malloy,  who  shovels 
off  our  walks.  If  we  look  back  on  our  training  at 
school  and  outside,  we  can  see  clearly  that  besides 
learning  how  to  meet  a  lot  of  particular  situations, 
we've  become  better  fitted  to  handle  all  sorts  of 
unfamiliar  ones." 

"I  might  claim,  Miss  Atwell, "  retorted  Henshaw, 
"that  our  inherited  capacities  had  something  to  do 
with  such  differences  in  people.  We  may  have  been 
born  with  a  better  general  equipment  than  Mike. 
Look  at  the  other  side  of  the  matter  a  bit.  We 
learned  that  by  training,  by  practice,  some  people 
improved  vastly  their  delicacy  in  discriminating  pitch, 
or  the  tastes  of  teas,  or  the  colors  of  ribbons.  But 
do  you  imagine  that  the  musician  who  has  had 
this  training  can  discriminate  the  flavors  of  soups  any 
better  than  average  people,  or  that  our  tea-taster  has 
any  finer  eye  for  color,  or  that  the  girl  at  the  ribbon 
counter  has,  by  her  training,  improved  her  ability  to 
judge  the  lengths  of  lines?  Take  another  case.  Play- 
ing chess   undoubtedly   requires  a  lot  of  intellectual 


The  Human  Nature  Club  173 

ability,  but  are  the  famous  chess-players  notorious  for 
ability  to  think  out  any  other  life  problems  than  those 
of  chess?  Tending  a  machine  requires  a  lot  of  atten- 
tion. A  man  running  a  complex  machine  often  has 
to  watch  with  the  utmost  care,  but  is  he  thereby 
enabled  to  attend  to  sermons  or  books  or  to  a  game 
of  cards  any  better?  Take  a  proof-reader.  He  exer- 
cises himself  in  observing  small  details  hours  every  day 
for  years,  but  he  isn't  any  more  proficient  in  observing 
plants  or  animals  or  human  nature  than  before.  Why, 
just  take  ourselves  as  cases.  We've  improved  in 
observing  and  explaining  people's  actions  about  two 
hundred  per  cent,  but  is  there  any  one  here  who 
observes  the  coming  of  the  birds,  or  the  condition  of 
the  weather,  or  the  dust  on  the  mantelpiece,  any  bet- 
ter than  before? 

"This  is  a  good  place  to  work  in  my  experiment, 
I  guess.  Henshaw  and  I  were  talking  about  this 
after  the  meeting  two  weeks  ago,  and  I  thought  of 
a  scheme.  I  took  twenty  big  cards  and  made  on 
each  a  line.  Those  lines  were  from  six  to  twelve 
inches  long,  and  varied  by  half  inches.  I  had  mother 
and  the  Elkins  and  Arthur  look  at  them,  one  at 
a  time,  and  judge  their  length.  Then  I  made  another 
set  of  thirty  cards  with  a  line  on  each,  but  in  this  set 
the  lines  were  %,  y%,  ^,  ^,  i,  i^,  1%,  i^,  and  1% 
inches  long.  I  then  had  the  folks  judge  these,  and 
record  their  judgments.  I  then  had  them  do  it  over 
and  over  again,  looking  after  each  trial,  so  that  they 
could  learn  to  do  it  better.  They  improved  tre- 
mendously, made,  in  fact,  after  a  day  or  so,  only 
about  one-third  as  many  mistakes  as  they  did  at  first. 


174  The  Human  Nature  Club 

I  then  had  them  try  the  six  to  twelve  inch  lines  again, 
and  they  did  not  judge  them  a  bit  better  than  at  first. 
This  is,  of  course,  only  a  little  thing,  and  wouldn't  be 
anything  to  found  a  general  opinion  on;  but  so  far  as 
it  goes  it  shows  that  training  in  one  special  field 
needn't  improve  us  except  in  that  special  field." 

"I'll  agree,"  said  Mr.  Tasker,  "that  there  isn't 
any  subtle,  mysterious  training  of  ''the  attention'  or 
''the  memory'  or  ""the  reason,'  for  I  don't  think  there 
are  any  such  things  to  be  trained,  and  I'll  allow  that 
your  facts  clearly  show  that  special  training  need 
not  give  general  ability.  But  still  I  don't  see  how 
you  explain  Miss  Atwell's  facts  that  a  man  who  has 
learned  to  do  a  number  of  things  accurately,  thor- 
oughly, and  reasonably,  will  generally  do  unfamiliar 
things  better,  too." 

"Would  you  claim  that  learning  one  thing  didn't 
help  us  to  know  other  different  things  at  all,  Mr. 
Henshaw,  or  only  that  there  never  was  this  mysteri- 
ous general  'mental  training'  we  hear  talk  about?" 

"I  meant  only  the  latter,"  Mrs.  Elkin ;  "but  I'd 
like  to  see  just  how  the  special  training  could  im.prove 
general  ability  before  I  believed  it  did  in  any  case. 
I  for  my  part  will  agree  that  we  all  have  powers  over 
a  wider  field  than  that  in  which  we've  actually  devel- 
oped them.  I'll  agree,  for  example,  that  having  to 
bring  up  coal  when  you  are  a  boy  makes  you  more 
likely  to  be  able  to  stand  work  in  all  sorts  of  lines. 
I'll  agree  that  denying  yourself  cigars  helps  give 
a  general  power  of  self-denial.  I  should  think  any 
one  who  had  pupils  or  children  would  want  to  know 
just  how  such  general  influence  came  about,  as  gen- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  175 

eral  habits  and  powers  seem  more  important  in  a  way 
than  particular  accomplishments  or  information." 

"I  can  see  one  way,"  said  Mr.  Elkin,  "if  you'll 
permit  me  to  join  this  debate.  There  are  some  J>ar- 
ticular  accomplishments  which  have  general  value. 
Bringing  up  coal,  for  instance,  teaches  a  boy,  first  of 
all,  that  tasks  which  are  unpleasant  caji  be  done,  that 
disagreeable  matters  can  be  undergone.  Now  I  take 
it  that  that  is  one  of  the  most  generally  valuable  bits 
of  experience  a  boy  can  have;  it  may  be  a  big  part 
of  the  difference  between  a  spoiled  child  and  a  decent 
citizen.  Again,  making  a  boy  obey  may  teach  him 
the  particular  but  yet  widely  applicable  truth  that  his 
own  wishes  are  not  the  measure  of  the  universe.  So 
with  industry.  The  habit  of  working  ten  hours  a  day 
may  be  acquired  in  connection  with  some  special 
work — studying,  farming,  carpentering,  or  what  not; 
but  it  is  of  general  influence,  for  the  habit  is  not  'If 
carpentering,  carpenter  ten  hours  a  day,'  but  'If 
working,  work  ten  hours  a  day. '  To  use  an  Irish 
bull,  'Some  special  training  is  general.'  " 

"That's  good;  and  I  can  follow  it  up  by  another 
shot.  A  man  told  me  once  that  high-school  geom- 
etry had  been  great  training  for  him,  for  it  taught 
him  that  things  could  be  absolutely  proved.  Now  his 
reasoning  in  geometry  may  have  improved  his  reason- 
ings about  all  sorts  of  things  later,  by  giving  him  the 
idea  that  you  can  do  more  than  guess  at  or  follow 
opinions  about  any  question;  you  can  in  many  cases 
absolutely  settle  it.  That  idea  may  have  been  called 
up  in  all  sorts  of  circumstances,  and  may  have  made 
him    try    to    really  demonstrate  that  a  thing  was  so. 


176  The  Human  Nature  Club 

whereas  if  he  had  not  studied  the  geometry,  he  might 
never  have  even  tried." 

"That  might  be  the  case  with  observation,  too. 
A  boy  in  school  might  from  a  course  in  botany  or 
natural  history  get  (what,  perhaps,  he  never  had  be- 
fore) the  notion  that  you  can  find  out  things  by  sys- 
tematically and  carefully  watching.  He  might  get 
this  idea  in  connection  with  the  study  of  a  frog  or 
bean-stalk,  but  then  apply  it  to  business  or  politics 
or  the  stock  market.  We  saw  in  studying  attention 
how  ability  to  stand  the  strain  of  effort  was  of  great 
general  importance.  So,  from  the  particular  habits 
and  powers  that,  as  Elkin  says,  are  general,  and  from 
the  generally  applicable  ideas  which  special  training 
may  inculcate,  we  should  expect  some  general  influ- 
ence. Yet  this  doesn't  require  any  subtle  mental 
machinery,  but  only  the  ordinary  mental  laws  that 
we've  been  working  with." 

"I  have  a  theory,"  said  Miss  Atwell,  "that  fits 
pretty  well  here.  I'm  rather  proud  of  it,  and  you 
must  listen  to  it.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that 
the  world  is,  after  all,  not  so  very  big.  We  don't 
really  meet  so  very  many  new  things.  For  what  we 
call  new  things  are  often  just  new  mixtures  of  old 
familiar  elements.  We  don't  do  so  very  many  new 
things,  either.  What  we  think  of  as  a  totally  new 
action  is  often  just  a  new  combination  of  old  familiar 
movements.  For  instance,  this  figure  which  I  draw, 
we'd  call  new.  We've  never  seen  it  before;  yet  it's 
elements  are  none  of  them  new.  So  with  my  act  in 
drawing  it.  It  would  be  called  new,  yet  the  separate 
acts  of  which  it  was  composed  were  all  familiar  to  me. 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


177 


Now,  this  view  gives  still  another  opportunity  for 
special  training  to  seem  to  give  general  ability.  We 
learn  in  some  sort  of  special  training  a  number  of 
things  and  find  that  we  then  do  better  a  lot  of  novel 
things.  But  they  may  be  only  apparently  novel. 
Their  elements  may  be  the  same  as  the  elements  of 
the  first  set  of  things.      Special  mental  training  may 


Fig.  12. 


give  general  mental  ability,  then,  in  some  cases,  be- 
cause the  elements  of  the  knowledge,  the  elements  of 
the  movements — the  elements,  that  is,  of  the  ability — 
were  really  the  same  in  the  general  field." 

"Let  me  give  one  more  way,"  said  Mr.  Tasker. 
"The  world  is  not  only  not  so  big  as  it  seems,  per- 
haps; it  is  also  not  so  varied;  very  many  things  are 
much  alike.  Even  where  the  elements  of  seemingly 
different  things  are  not  exactly  the  same,  they  may 
be    near    enough  alike   so  that  the  treatment   which 


178  The  Human  Nature  Club 

succeeds  with  one  may  succeed  with  another.  For 
instance,  practice  in  spealcing  before  a  class  may  make 
you  better  able  to  preach  or  argue  in  court." 

"All  that  you  folks  have  said  I'll  grant  to  be  prob- 
able and  to  often  occur,  and  I  believe,  as  you  do,  that 
thus  thinking  or  doing  a  thing  not  only  teaches  us 
that,  but  also  fits  us  for  other  things  to  the  limited 
extent  you've  claimed.  But  I  think  you  ought  to 
admit  that  we  have  no  right  to  presuppose  such  wide- 
spread influence  of  special  training  until  we  have  evi- 
dence that  it  exists.  My  experience  is  that  every 
habit  or  power  or  bit  of  knowledge  is  often  confined 
within  a  very  narrow  sphere  of  activity.  People  may 
be  charitable  in  the  church  and  niggardly  in  support 
of  public  institutions,  observant  of  bugs  and  oblivious 
to  human  nature,  reasonable  about  business  and  pig- 
headed in  politics  and  religion,  careful  in  speech  and 
careless  in  dress,  and  so  on  through  a  list  of  a  thou- 
sand things. " 

"I'm  sure  I'll  agree  to  that,  and  I  hope  next  yeaf 
we  can,  under  Arthur's  guidance,  test  this  question 
by  making  experiments  to  see  just  how  far  certain 
training  improves  our  general  powers,"  replied  Mr. 
Tasker.  "It  certainly  is  foolish  to  talk  about  'the 
faculty  of  observation,'  or  to  suppose  that  because 
a  man  has  learned  to  be  accurate  in  one  thing  he  will 
be  in  all  others.  I  think  that  we  ought  all  to  recall 
what  Henshaw  said  some  weeks  ago  about  each  one 
of  us  being  not  so  much  'a  mind'  as  a  multitude  of 
'mental  systems.'  I  may  be  careful  while  in  my 
'school-teacher'  system,  and  careless  in  my  'home 
life'  system.      I  may  be  reasonable  in  my  'student  of 


The  Human  Nature  Club  179 

physics'  system,  and  utterly  bigoted  in  my  'theology' 
system.  I  may  have  the  innocence  of  the  dove  in  my 
'evening-party'  system,  and  be  as  wise  as  a  serpent 
in  my  'business'  system.  The  training  of  my  mind  in 
one  of  its  systems  need  not  pass  over  to  any  of  the 
rest." 

"Don't  you  think,  too,"  said  Mrs.  Ralston,  "that 
this  ought  to  give  us  a  good  deal  of  charity  toward 
people  when  they  seem  to  us  to  be  pretty  mean  and 
bad?  We  may  see  only  one  of  their  systems,  and  in 
others  they  may  average  up  as  well  as  most  people. 
I  don't  think  you  ought  to  judge  any  one  till  you  know 
the  whole  of  him,  all  his  systetfis,  as  Mr.  Henshaw  and 
you  call  them. " 

"I  think,"  said  Arthur,  "that  if  all  of  us  together 
should  start  in  to  know  completely  the  human  nature 
of  just  one  single  man,  we'd  be  kept  busy  for  all  our 
lives,  and  at  the  end  find  many  things  in  the  man  that 
we  hadn't  touched." 

"I  think,"  said  Miss  Clark,  "that  we  must  go 
home  early  to-night,  and  leave  you  to  finish  by  your- 
selves.    Good  night,  Mrs.  Ralston,  good  night." 

NOTES   BY   THE    EDITOR. 

The  importance  of  this  discussion  for  those  interested  in 
education  either  in  the  school  or  in  the  home  is  evident.  There 
is  a  popular  belief  that  attending  to,  or  observing,  or  reasoning 
about  one  sort  of  things  makes  one  attentive  to,  or  observant 
of,  or  reasonable  about  all  sorts.  On  the  contrary,  the  mind 
appears  to  really  represent  a  number  of  particular  abilities, 
particular  acts,  particular  memories.  It  appears  to  be  an  organ 
for  connecting  particular  ideas  and  particular  movements 
with  particular  situations.     The  club  noticed  that  these  parti- 


l8o  The  Human  Nature  Club 

cular,  special  abilities  might  give  general  ability  in  so  far  as 
they  (l)  were  really  accomplishments  of  general  utility,  or  (2) 
inculcated  ideas  which  might  arise  in  all  sorts  of  situations  and 
influence  our  behavior,  or  (3)  taught  us  to  deal  with  certain 
eiemenls  which  were  present  in  all  sorts  of  different  complex 
situations,  or  (4)  enabled  us  to  deal  with  closely  similar  things. 
Further  than  this  the  club  wisely  decided  we  should  not  ex- 
pect any  general  influence  from  anything  we  learn  unless  we 
see  evidence  of  it.  There  is  no  useful  reference  for  reading 
about  this  topic,  but  it  would  be  an  excellent  plan  to  train  one's 
self  in  some  one  thing  and  lest  one's  self  before  and  aftertrain- 
ing  to  see  if  one's  general  ability  in  any  line  had  been  im- 
proved. If  one  were  learning  to  play  the  violin,  for  instance,  he 
could  find  out  whether  his  fingers  were  more  nimble  and  accu- 
rate in  writing  on  a  typewriter  after  some  months'  of  violin 
exercises  than  before.  If  one  were  learning  to  play  golf,  he 
could  see  whether  his  eye  and  hand  were  more  skilled  in 
throwing  stones  or  playing  croquet  after  a  month's  golf  practice 
than  before. 


X 


CHAPTER    XVI 

HEREDITY    AND    ENVIRONMENT 


Mr.  Tasker  opened  the  meeting  of  the  club  by  say- 
ing: "We  are  fortunate  to-night  in  having  with  us  Dr. 
Leighton,  whom  you  all  know,  and  Superintendent 
Carmody  of  the  county  reformatory.  Dr.  Leighton 
has  kindly  consented  to  tell  us  about  the  ways  in  which 
the  mental  make-up  of  parents  influences  that  of  their 
children.  Superintendent  Carmody  will  speak  to  us 
about  the  human  nature  of  criminals.  Dr.  Leighton, 
you  have  the  floor." 

"Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  What  our  intellects  and 
characters  are  you  have  found  to  depend  on  what  our 
nervous  organization  is.  Like  it,  then,  they  are 
determined  partly  by  what  is  in  us  from  the  beginning 
of  life,  and  partly  by  what  happens  to  us.  Every 
human  being  grows  from  an  ovum  or  egg.  This  egg 
contains  substances  in  a  certain  arrangement,  which 
determine  in  part  what  the  man  or  woman  who  de- 
velops from  it  will  be,  what  bones,  nerve-cells,  etc., 
J  will  have;  what  things  he  can  do  without  learning, 
I  ov/  much  mental  vigor  he  will  possess,  etc.  This  egg 
r'^presents   his   inheritance    from   his   immediate   and 

note  ancestors.      Let  us  use  the  word  germ-inherit- 

:e  for  this, 

"Now  the  egg  or  germ  is  affected  by  all  sorts  of 
""nfluences  in  its  months  of  life  before  it  develops  into 

a   new-born   baby.      It   is   alive   from   the   start,    is 

i8i 


1 82  The  Human  Nature  Club 

growing,  is  influenced  by  heat  and  cold,  lack  of  food, 
by  poisons  which  it  gets  from  the  mother's  blood,  and 
by  all  sorts  of  events  that  happen  to  it.  The  growing 
brain  is,  of  course,  as  much  modified  by  these  influ- 
ences as  is  any  other  part  of  the  body.  It  is  evident 
that  what  happens  to  us  before  birth  may  make  a  big 
difference  in  our  future  intelligence  and  character. 
If,  for  instance,  our  nerve-cells  are  poisoned  by 
alcohol  before  birth,  we  shall  suffer  just  as  surely  as 
if  we  after  birth  become  willful  drunkards.      ^\ 

"From  birth  on,  things  are  constantly  happening 
to  us,  and  we  are  constantly  reacting  in  various  ways. 
We  can  all  see  that  what  we  eat  and  drink,  what  we 
see  and  hear,  whom  we  imitate,  what  we  do  and  neg- 
lect, all  make  a  difference  in  our  mental  make-up. 

"What  one  of  us  is  mentally  thus  depends  (i)  on 
his  germ-inheritance,  what  he  was  at  the  start;  (2) 
on  what  happened  to  his  growing  brain  before  birth, 
and  (3)  on  what  happened  to  it  after  birth.  We  doc- 
tors use  the  word  'nutrition'  to  mean  all  the  influences 
covered  by  2  and  3.  It  includes  the  influence  of  foods 
and  poisons,  accidents  and  shocks,  habits  and  lessons 
learned,  people  and  things  seen,  ideals  and  ambitions 
inculcated,  etc. 

Scientists  in  general  reserve  the  word  heredity  to 
refer  to  only  what  a  human  being  possesses  at  the 
very  start.  Of  course,  you  could  use  it  as  most  peo- 
ple do,  to  mean  what  tendencies  are  in  a  person  at 
birth.  If  we  do,  we  must  be  sure  to  remember  that 
the  word  then  covers  real  inheritance,  and  also  some- 
thing quite  different — namely,  the  acquisitions  gained 
before    birth.      These  are   tremendously    important 


The  Human  Nature  Club  18;^ 

To  save  any  misunderstanding,  I  will  use  the  phrases 
germ-inheritance^  ante-birth  acquisitions,  and  post-birth 
acquisitions,  or  nurture,  to  refer  to  these  three  factors 
at  work  in  developing  a  human  being. 

"Let  us  first  ask,  'Which  of  these  three  is  the  most 
important?'  One  finds  all  sorts  of  opinions  about 
this  question.  Liebnitz,  who  was  a  famous  philos- 
opher of  the  seventeenth  century,  thought  that  nurture 
was  all  important;  that  if  he  could  control  the  educa- 
tion of  the  world's  inhabitants  he  could  remodel  mun- 
dane affairs,  and  banish  ignorance  and  vice. 

"On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Francis  Galton,  the  most 
thorough  student  of  this  problem  in  human  nature, 
says:  'There  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that 
nature  [by  which  he  means  germ-inheritance  plus 
ante-birth  acquisitions]  prevails  enormously  over  nur- 
ture when  the  differences  in  nurture  do  not  exceed 
what  is  commonly  to  be  found  among  persons  of  the 
same  rank  of  society  and  in  the  same  country." 

"If  you  look  at  the  matter  on  all  sides,  I  suppose 
you'd  have  to  say  that  the  germ-inheritance  was  the 
most  important.  That  decides  whether  one  will  have 
the  mind  of  a  jelly-fish  or  a  dog  or  a  man.  It  gives 
a  basis  without  which  the  other  influences  could  effect 
nothing.  The  differences  between  races,  between 
a  negro  and  an  Englishman,  between  a  Filipino  and 
a  German,  are  in  great  measure  due  to  different 
germ-inheritances.  A  man's  germinal  inheritance  is, 
so  to  speak,  his  capital,  his  stock  in  trade.  He  may 
foster  or  spoil  it  by  good  ante-birth  acquisitions;  his 
nurture  may  increase  or  waste  it.      But  without  it  he 

•"Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty,"  page  241. 


184  The  Human  Nature  Club 

couldn't  do  business  at  all,  and  its  nature  must  decide 
what  sort  of  business  he  will  do. 

"It  is  probable  that  general  mental  ability  as  well 
as   special    mental   gifts  are  in  large   measure  due  to 
germ-inheritance.      Mr.  Galton  has  studied  this  ques- 
tion more  thoroughly  than  any  one  else,  and  he  de- 
cides that  in  the  case  of  eminent  mental  gifts  he  has 
demonstrated  that  the  son  of  an  eminent  man  has  one 
thousand  times  as  good  a  chance  of  being  eminent  as 
the  son  of  the  average  man.     The  brother  of  an  emi- 
nent man   has  over  five  hundred   times  the  chance  of 
being  eminent  that  the  brother  of  the  ordinary  man 
has.      A   grandson   of   an  eminent  man  has  about  one 
hundred  and   forty  times  as  good  a  chance;  a  nephew 
about  one  hundred  times  as  good  a  chance.      Training 
and  family  influences  could  not  account  for  this,  or 
even  probably  for  any  considerable  part  of  it. 

"Eminent  mental  ability,  then,  and  presumably 
mental  ability  in  general,  is  mainly  the  result  of  germ- 
inheritance,  not  of  nurture  or  education,  so  far  as  we 
can  at  present  see. 

"We  must  remember  that  he  does  not  mean  that 
the  son  of  a  genius  will  be  a  genius,  or  that  the  son 
of  a  clodhopper  need  not  become  one  of  the  great 
ones  of  the  earth.  What  he  means  is  that  there  is 
a  very  much  greater  probability  for  the  former  event 
than  there  is  for  the  latter.  We  must  not  expect  any- 
thing like  absolute  likeness  between  father  and  son, 
for  the  son's  germ-inheritance  is  a  tremendously  com- 
plex affair,  depending  on  both  sides,  subject  to  all 
sorts  of  accidental  influences. 

"I  dare  say  you've  often  wondered  why  the  same 


I'he  Human  Nature  Club  185 

father  and  mother  may  have  children  differing  so 
widely  in  physical  and  mental  make-up.  Such  cases 
show  clearly  the  complexity  of  the  matter.  Of  course, 
their  ante-birth  acquisitions  may  differ,  but  besides 
that  there  are  probably  differences  in  the  general 
vigor  and  developing  power  of  germs  from  the  same 
parents,  but  at  different  times.  In  pigeons  the  time 
of  the  year  makes  such  differences.  Birds  which  in 
April  hatch  strong,  healthy  offspring  may,  other  con- 
ditions remaining  just  the  same,  have  in  September 
weak,  ill-developing  young.  Finally,  let  me  remind 
you  again  that  the  germ  has  a  great  number  of  pos- 
sibilities, and  the  realization  of  any  one  of  them  may 
be  caused  or  blocked  by  very  slight  accidental  occur- 
rences. The  germ  may  contain  elements  which  have 
not  openly  manifested  themselves  for  several  genera- 
tions, but  which  still  are  transmitted  from  parents  to 
children,  and  which  may  at  any  time  appear.  A  boy 
may  thus  develop  some  mental  characteristic  exactly 
like  his  great-grandfather,  though  that  characteristic 
hasn't  been  present  in  his  grandfather  or  father. 

"So  much  for  germ-inheritance  of  mental  charac- 
teristics. We  now  come  to  the  ante-birth  acquisi- 
tions. The  germ  depends  for  its  development  on  the 
treatment  it  receives  before  birth  as  well  as  on  its 
inherent  nature;  especially  important  is  the  food  sup- 
ply. Of  course,  the  influence  is  now  indirect,  is  only 
through  the  food  supply  in  the  mother's  blood,  or 
through  physical  conditions  of  heat,  cold,  shock,  etc. 
How  far  these  influences  can  make  differences  in  the 
character  and  intelligence  of  the  future  child,  I  can- 
not <^11  you.      They  would  certainly  seem  capable  of 


1 86  The  Human  Nature  Club 

making  differences  in  his  general  bodily  and  nervous, 
and  so  mental  vigor.  Of  course,  physical  diseases 
thus  transmitted  may  indirectly  work  tremendous 
changes  in  the  child's  mental  make-up.  ■ 

"It's  not  my  business  to  discuss  the  influence  on 
development  of  what  happens  to  children  after  birth. 
But  I  want  to  correct  a  possible  misapprehension. 
When  I  said  that  germ-inheritance  was  perhaps  the 
most  important  because  the  most  fundamental,  I  did 
not  mean  that  the  most  important  special  character- 
istics of  human  nature  were  due  to  germ-inheritance. 
Truth-telling,  diligence,  attentiveness,  integrity, 
unselfishness,  charity  and  their  like,  are  all  probably 
characteristics  acquired  after  birth.  Speaking 
broadly,  civilization,  including  morality,  is  in  each 
human  being  an  acquisition,  not  an  inherited  trait. 

"The  great  question  of  all  concerning  the  influence 
of  heredity  on  the  development  of  human  nature  is, 
I  think,  this:  'Are  the  habits  and  powers  and  inter- 
ests and  ideals  we  acquire  in  life  transmitted  to  our 
children?  Are  the  characters  we  form  and  the  intel- 
lectual abilities  we  attain  handed  over,  in  whole  or  a. 
part,  to  our  offspring?  Do  we  carve  out  not  only  our 
own  destiny,  but  also  that  of  our  children?'  Our  own 
inheritance  \s  passed  on,  but  are  our  acquisitions  as  well? 

"It  is  certain  that  in  a  rough  way  the  sins  of  the 
fathers  burden  their  posterity,  and  on  the  other  hand 
that  the  good  we  do  lives  after  us  in  the  character  of 
our  children. 

"But  you  will  recognize  from  what  I  have  already 
said  that  many  causes  may  be  accountable  for  this. 
Intelligent  parents  may  have  intelligent  children,  be- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  187 

';atise  their  own  acquired  intelligence  leads  them  to 
train  them  intelligently,  because  they  themselves  serve 
as  models  for  inheritance,  because  the  'nurture'  of 
their  children  is  such  as  to  develop  intelligence. 
Again,  there  may  be  substances  in  the  blood  which  are 
acquired  by  and  in  turn  minister  to  the  healthy,  vigor- 
ous action  and  growth  of  the  brain,  and  the  'ante- 
birth  acquisitions'  of  children  of  intelligent  parents 
may  thus  account  for  more  or  less  of  the  mental  abil- 
ity these  children  show  in  after  life.  Finally,  there 
might  be  real  changes  in  the  germs  of  parents  caused 
by  thoughtful,  intelligent  lives,  and  thus  the  acquired 
intelligence  of  the  parents  might  make  a  favorable 
difference  in  the  germ-inheritance  of  their  children. 

"Taking  a  simple  illustration,  we  may  say  that 
a  mother  who  has  learned  to  control  fits  of  melancholy 
and  depression  might  decrease  the  tendency  to  such 
attacks  in  her  children — first,  because  her  own 
acquired  control  over  them  would  cause  the  surround- 
ings of  the  child  after  birth  to  be  favorable  ;  secondly, 
because  she  had  decreased  some  substance  in  her 
blood  which  caused  them,  and  so  improved  the  devel- 
opment of  the  child  before  birth;  thirdly,  because 
she  had  by  her  training  actually  changed  the  nature 
of  the  germs  which  represent  the  child's  germ-inherit- 
ance. 

"Now,  there  can,  of  course,  be  no  doubt  of  the 
first  sort  of  influence.  We  see  evidence  of  it  all  around 
us.  And  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  so  far  as  there 
are  any  substances  in  the  blood  that  affect  mental  life, 
such  might  vary  in  the  child  as  they  varied  in  the 
mother.     Certain   diseases    undoubtedly    are     trans- 


1 88  The  Human  Nature  Club 

mitted  in  this  way.  But  about  this  kind  of  transmis- 
sion of  mental  powers  I  know  nothing  definite  enough 
to  tell  you.  When  we  come  to  the  third  question, 
whether  mental  habits  and  powers  acquired  in  life  so 
alter  the  germ  substance  of  the  parents  that  their 
children  will  profit  by  the  parents'  'acquisitions,'  we 
find    that    our    present     knowledge     points    to    the 

answer  'no.' 

"I  can't  begin  to  give  you  all  the  arguments  pro 
and  con,  all  the  evidence  which  makes  students  of  the 
processes  of  life  nowadays  decide  that  a  man's  germ-  ■ 
inheritance,  the  make-up  of  the  minute  mass  of  living 
matter  which  is  his  starting-point  in  life,  is  independ- 
ent of  the  acquired  nature   of  his  parents.     You  can 
see  for  yourselves  that  our  acquisitions  are  not  wholly 
transmitted.       Ten   generations    may   have    acquired 
the  power  to  read,  yet   the   children   of   the  eleventh 
have  to  learn.      A  child's  ancestors  for  ten  generations 
may   have   spoken   English,    yet  he  doesn't  have  the 
power  or  tendency,  and  will  speak   French  if  brought 
up  by  French  people.      I  have   said  that  nowadays  we 
believe  that  our  acquisitions  have  no  direct  influence 
at  all  on   our  children's  germ-inheritance.      The  evi- 
dence for  this  belief  is  like  that  I've  just  given  for  the 
belief  that  they  are  not  wholly  transmissible.      It  is, 
namely,  that   we   see  no  signs  of  such  transmission. 
For  instance,   human  beings,    ever  since  there   were 
any    have  seen  the   sun,  yet  a  person  born  blind  does 
not   have  a  mental   image  of  the  sun,  does  not  know 
that  the  sun  exists  until  he  has  been  taught.      Again, 
people  have  learned  in  every  generation  that  fire  hurts, 
have  learned   to  keep  their  hands  out  of  it;  yet  chil- 


The  Human  Nature  Club  189 

dren  tend  when  they  see  a  bright  flame  to  reach  for  it. 
Why.  then,  should  we  expect  that  because  a  father 
learns  to  keep  his  hands  off  other  people's  property, 
his  children  should  be  any  less  greedy? 

"So  at  present  it  seems  wise  to  believe  that  so  far 
as  definite  particulars  go,  what  a  man  does  in  life 
makes  no  difference  to  the  germs  from  which  his  chil- 
dren will  grow.  Of  course,  generally  good  or  poor 
nutrition  of  all  the  parent's  body  would  mean  good 
or  poor  nutrition  of  these  germs,  and  that  might  mean 
healthy  or  unhealthy  development  of  mind  as  well  as 
body  in  the  child.  But  facts  about  such  general 
influence  are  very  vague.  The  practical  outcome  of 
this  is  that  a  man's  becoming  a  doctor  or  lawyer  or 
thief  or  Indian  chief  need  not  prove  that  his  son  will 
inherit  qualities  that  will  fit  him  better  than  his  parent 
for  a  like  career;  that  having  a  college  education 
need  not  make  your  children  inherit  any  more  gifted 
minds  than  you  did.  The  gifts  that  are  in  our  power 
to  bestow  on  our  children  are,  first  of  all,  proper  edu- 
cation after  birth;  secondly,  proper  nutrition  before 
birth,  and  (possibly)  thirdly,  some  of  the  general 
physical  and  mental  vigor  which  we  may  have 
acquired." 

"I'm  sure,"  said  Mr.  Tasker,  "that  we  all  are 
obliged  to  Dr.  Leighton  for  clearing  up  a  matter  about 
which  most  of  us  had  very  vague  and  mistaken  notions. 
After  the  meeting  is  over  we  can  ask  questions  and 
make  comments  about  it.  I  take  great  pleasure  in 
introducing  to  you  Superintendent  Carmody. " 

"Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Concernina:  the  mental 
characteristics    of   criminals    a    great    deal    has    been 


190  The  Human  Nature  Club 

said,  though  but  little  is  known.  Some  students  of 
the  matter  would  tell  you  that  the  criminal  is  a  men- 
tally undeveloped  being,  an  immature  man,  a  being 
whose  growth  in  intellect  and  character  has  gone  only 
part  way.  Others  would  tell  you  that  the  criminal 
was  a  distinct  species  of  humanity,  clearly  marked  off 
irom  ordinary  folks,  and  that  he  transmitted  his 
make-up  to  his  children.  Others  would  tell  you  that 
there  was  nothing  whatever  extraordinary  about  the 
general  mental  make-up  of  criminals,  that  the  reason 
lor  their  crimes  was  vicious  and  careless  training  in 
youth,  and  that  to  talk  about  inherited  criminality 
was  as  absurd  as  to  talk  about  inherited  knowledge  of 
solid  geometry. 

"Inasmuch  as  Dr.  Leighton  has  already  given  you 
a  statement  of  the  general  facts  and  problems  of 
mental  inheritance,  1  may  well  begin  by  discussing 
the  question  just  hinted  at — namely,  'Is  the  tendency 
to  crimes  a  matter  of  germ-inheritance,  or  is  it  a  post- 
birth  acquisition?  Are  criminals  born  or  made?'  In  con- 
nection with  this  question  we  may  run  across  a  number 
of  the  noteworthy  facts  about  criminal  human  nature. 

"First  of  all,  let  us  disabuse  our  minds  of  the 
notion  that  there  is  any  such  thing  as  the  criminal,  with 
a  perfectly  distinct  type  of  make-up.  To  be  a  crim- 
inal means  to  behave  in  a  way  which  the  opinion  of 
people  in  general  condemns  and  stamps  as  unsatis- 
factory and  menacing  to  human  welfare,  and  so  pun- 
ishes. Now,  a  man  may  behave  in  such  ways  in  a  fit 
of  passion,  or  under  remarkable  temptation,  or  in 
boyish  pranks,  though  his  general  character  tends 
entirely  to  the  opposite  sort   of   life.      Here  we  have 


The  Human  Nature  Club  191 

a  criminal  who  clearly  has  not  a  criminal  make-up. 
A  good,  pious  woman  is  afflicted  with  a  morbid 
impulse  to  strangle.  She  detests  the  thought  and 
fights  against  it,  but  it  is  overpowering,  and  she  has  to 
give  way  to  it.  She  kills  in  this  frightful  manner 
her  sister's  child.  But  for  expert  medical  testimony 
she  would  be  punished  as  a  criminal.  She  has  com- 
mitted a  criminal  act,  though  not  with  criminal  intent 
or  from  a  wicked  nature.  So  with  those  kleptomani- 
acs who  are  really  mentally  diseased.  Again,  we 
have  criminals  where  the  cause  of  the  act  was  a  brutal 
nature,  others  where  it  was  lack  of  distinct  ideas 
about  right  and  wrong,  others  where  it  was  laziness, 
others  where  it  was  a  perverted  desire  to  show  off 
before  a  gang  of  vicious  roughs.  A-multitude  of  dif- 
ferent mental  characteristics  may  thus  lead  people  to 
criminal  acts  and  criminal  careers.  It  is  therefore 
evident  that  if  one  takes  the  thousands  of  criminals, 
and  asks  any  question  about  them,  the  answer  which 
fits  some  may  not  fit  others.  So  with  our  question 
concerning  the  inheritance  of  criminality.  The  traits 
which  lead  a  man  into  crime  may  in  some  cases  be 
inherited  and  in  others  acquired. 

"We  can,  however,  look  at  the  general  run  of  crim- 
inals, and  in  a  vague,  general  way  see  whether 
criminal  ancestry  or  vicious  training  plays  the  leading 
role.  When  doing  so  we  should  remember  that  crim- 
inal parents  are  likely  to  give  their  children  a  training 
such  as  would  probably  predispose  the  best  born 
children  to  vicious  and  lawless  lives.  So  when  we  see 
crime  running  in  families  we  must  not  jump  at  the 
conclusion  that  germ-inheritance  is  to  blame. 


192  The  Human  Nature  Club 

"Now,  let  us  take  a  look  at  a  famous  family  of 
criminals.  The  infamous  Juke  family  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  nine  individuals,  distributed  over  six  gener- 
ations, produced  seventy-seven  offenders  in  one 
county  in  forty-five  years.  If  the  records  from  the 
previous  years  and  from  three  other  counties,  and  all 
the  records  of  misdemeanors,  could  have  been  added, 
the  number  would  doubtless  be  much  increased.  The 
history  of  this  family  is  a  disgusting  record  of  de- 
bauchery, vice,  pauperism  and  crime.'  It  would 
seem  at  the  first  look  that  we  had  here  a  case  of  inher- 
ited criminality.  If  we  look  more  closely,  we  find 
that  the  training  received  by  the  members  of  the 
family,  their  post-birth  acquisitions,  may  account  for 
their  rich  harvest  of  criminals.  'They  lived  in  log 
or  stone  houses,  similar  to  slave-hovels,  all  ages, 
sexes,  relations,  and  strangers  'bunking'  indiscrim- 
inately  Domesticity  is  impossible 

They  ....  were  so  despised  by  the  reputable  com- 
munity that  their  family  name  had  come  to  be  used 
generic  ally  as  a  term  of  reproach. '  The  young  Juke 
was  thus  early  familiarized  with  vice  and  crime;  he 
was  deprived  of  intercourse  with  decent  children;  he 
had  no  examples  of  thrift  or  industry  or  honesty 
or  chastity;  he  was  without  moral  restraint  or  social 
discipline. 

"That  his  criminal  career  was  the  result  of  what 
happened  to  him  after  birth  rather  than  of  his  mental 
inheritance  is  suggested  by  several  cases  where  early 
marriage  and  removal  from  the  community  was  fol- 
lowed  by  a  decent  career.      For  example,  a  Juke  girl 

'See  "  The  Jukes,"  R.  L.  Dugdale. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  193 

who  had  a  thoroughly  vicious  ancestry  and  had  been 
arrested  for  vagrancy  in  her  fifteenth  year,  'marries 
a  German,  a  cement-burner,  a  steady,  industrious, 
plodding  man,  settles  down  into  a  home,  ....  and 
takes  the  position  of  a  reputable  woman. ' 

"'That  ante-birth  acquisitions  may  have  played 
a  part  by  making  the  health  and  physique  and  mental 
development  of  the  Juke  children  such  as  would  unfit 
them  for  regular  lives  and  self-control,  and  make  them 
easy  victims  of  impulse  and  appetite,  is  shown  by  the 
large  percentage  of  disease  and  poverty  and  the  gen- 
eral lack  of  hygiene  and  personal  care.  The  Juke 
progeny  may  have  been  burdened  with  a  germ-inherit- 
ance that  would  make  them  likely  candidates  for  crim- 
inal careers;  they  probably  were  mentally  enfeebled 
by  bad  nutrition  before  birth;  they  certainly  were 
brought  up  in  an  environment  which  would  favor  the 
acquisition  of  immoral  and  criminal  habits, 

"We  may  now  turn  from  this  particular  family,  and 
look  at  juvenile  offenders  in  general.  One  would 
suppose  that  if  criminals  passed  on  mental  charac- 
teristics which  act  as  causes  to  crime,  the  class  of 
youthful  criminals  would  include  a  large  number  of 
descendants  of  criminals.  Yet  only  two  per  cent  of 
the  inmates  of  English  industrial  schools'  were  found 
to  be  descendants  of  habitual  criminals.  In  fact,  the 
juvenile  offender  seems  to  be  the  product  of  bad 
bringing  up,  rather  than  of  special  criminal  ancestry. 
Twenty  per  cent  of  the  inmates  of  industrial  schools 
are  without  a  father  living,  fourteen  per  cent  without 

•The  figures  here  quoted  are  taken  from  W.  D.  Morrison's  "Juvenile 
Offenders." 


194  The  Human  Nature  Club 

a  mother  living.  In  the  cases  of  children  with  both 
parents  living,  there  is  still  emphatic  evidence  that 
proper  restraint  and  proper  moral  training  are  rare. 
Over  three-fourths  of  the  homes  from  which  these 
children  come  are,  to  use  Mr.  Morrison's  words,  not 
'morally  fit  for  a  child  to  live  in.'  When  children  of 
this  very  same  class  are  taken  and  well  cared  for, 
they  do  not  become  criminals  to  any  greater  extent 
than  average  children.  So  we  are  warranted  in  the 
opinion  that  criminality  in  this  class  is  in  the  main 
not  an  inborn,  but  an  acquired  trait.  Their  bad  train- 
ing accounts  for  their  offenses,  and  if  good  training 
is  supplied,  the  offenses  do  not  appear.  However, 
though  these  children  do  not  inherit  criminality  from 
their  parents,  they  may,  and  probably  have,  inherited 
more  than  the  ordinary  human  being's  share  of  mental 
dullness  and  incapacity. 

"In  the  study  of  criminals  one  thus  finds  in  con- 
crete shape  all  the  problems  concerning  heredity  of 
which  Dr.  Leighton  told  you.  How  much  of  the 
criminal's  career  is  due  to  germ-inheritance,  how 
much  to  ante-birth  acquisitions,  how  much  to  post- 
birth  acquisitions?  Answers  to  these  questions  are 
being  gradually  worked  out  by  students  of  crime.  Do 
not  forget  that  these  factors  account  for  the  nature  of 
every  man  as  well  as  of  criminals,  and  that  it  will  be 
one  of  the  greatest  problems  of  the  future  to  ascer- 
tain in  the  cases  of  men  of  all  sorts  the  exact  influence 
of  heredity  and  of  environment.  In  the  case  of  crim- 
inals in  general,  I  personally  am  inclined  to  the  opin- 
ion that  no  specific  tendencies  to  crime  are  inherited. 
\^  Certain  general   mental   conditions   may  be  inherited 


The  Human  Nature  Club  195 

which  serve  as  good  soil  for  criminal  tendencies  to 
grow  in. \  But  the  training  is  the  real  decisive  factor. 
Other  people,  however,  are  of  the  contrary  opinion. 
We^don't  know  enough  yet.   -^ 

"So  much  for  the  question  of  hereditary  crimi- 
nality. I  have  a  few  remarks  to  make  upon  some  of 
the  mental  characteristics  of  the  average  criminals. 
Remember,  that  in  many  cases  these  won't  fit.  First 
of  all,  they  are,  as  one  would  suppose,  without  moral 
ideals,  feelings  of  remorse,  or  much  sensibility  to  any 
moral  emotions.  They  are  below  the  average  in  gen- 
eral intellectual  powers,  though,  of  course,  they  may 
be  apt  in  their  particular  lines.  They  are  likely  to 
be  incapable  of  sustained  effort,  and  to  be  irritable 
and  impulsive.  They  are  distinctly  religious.  'Out 
of  twenty-eight  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-one 
admissions  to  three  large  metropolitan  prisons,' 
remarks  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Horsley,  only  fifty-seven 
described  themselves  as  atheists,  and  this  number,' 
he  adds, 'must  be  further  reduced  as  containing  some 
Chinese  and  Mohammedans.'  Many  of  these  cases 
were  men  who  were  really  rather  religious.' 

"On  the  whole,  the  criminal  population  is  not  very 
markedly  different  from  the  average.  They  are  not 
different  from  other  men  and  women  as  dogs  are  dif- 
ferent from  cats.  If  I  had  here  a  hundred  criminals 
and  a  hundred  average  men  and  women,  I  am  not  at 
all  sure  that  any  psychologist  could,  by  a  mental 
examination,  pick  out  the  criminals  from  the  rest. 
Yet  as  one  lives  among  them  and  reads  widely  in  the 
history  of  crime  he  gains  a  feeling  of  certain  types  of 

'For  these  and  similar  facts  see  "The  Criminal,"  by  Havelock  Ellis.., 


196  The  Human  Nature  Club 

human  nature — the  criminal  types.  I'm  not  sure, 
again,  that  these  types  are  any  more  distinct  than 
types  of  plumbers  or  lawyers  or  scientists.  If  you'll 
come  and  visit  our  reformatory  some  time,  you  can 
yourselves  judge  what  the  human  nature  of  criminals 
is  like  by  actual  observation.  And  finally,  though 
I've  just  done  the  opposite  thing,  I  advise  you  to  study 
the  psychology  of  criminals  rather  than  talk  about  it.'* 


CHAPTER  XVII 

A    REVIEW 

At  this  meeting  of  the  club,  its  members  discussed 
the  following  questions  and  observations,  taken  from 
their  box.  They  were  able,  with  the  aid  of  the 
information  they  had  already  acquired,  to  answer  the 
questions  satisfactorily,  and  to  refer  the  observations 
to  similar  facts  already  studied.  The  editor  trusts 
that  his  readers  can  do  likewise,  and  feels  confident 
that  they  will  prefer  to  think  the  explanations  out  for 
themselves  rather  than  to  be  told. 

"A  man  who  had  seen  long  military  service  became 
a  waiter  in  a  restaurant.  One  day  a  gentleman  din- 
ing there  was  telling  an  anecdote  in  a  rather  loud 
voice,  and  in  the  course  of  it  said,  'Company,  salute!' 
The  waiter,  who  was  passing  by  with  a  tray  of  dishes, 
dropped  the  tray,  and  brought  his  hand  up  to  his  fore- 
head in  the  act  of  saluting." 

"A  famous  French  tragedian  used  to  hire  a  man 
whom  he  would  beat  and  pummel  as  fiercely  as  pos- 
sible just  before  going  on  the  stage  to  play  the  last 
act  of  Othello.     Why  did  he  do  it?" 

"Samuel  Johnston  used  to  insist  on  touching  every 
lamp-post  as  he  walked  along  the  street." 

"Why  is  it  that  a  person  can  be  extremely  accurate 
in  one  sort  of  thing — e.  g.^  keeping  accounts — and  yet 
be  very  inaccurate  in  other  things?" 

"I  walked   down   Liberty  Street  every  day  for  two 

197 


198  The  Human  Nature  Club 

weeks,  and  didn't  know  that  a  new  house  was  being 
built  there." 

"Some  years  ago  a  certain  company  used  to  wrap 
the  small  packages  of  tobacco  which  they  sold  in 
papers  with  pictures  of  baseball  players  on  them. 
On  these  papers  it  said,  'Save  the  wrappers.'  (A  prize 
was  given  for  every  hundred  returned.)  The  small  boys 
of  the  town  would  collect  these  papers,  and  seeing  the 
\nscr'\p\\on,wouid  save  those  which  had  batsmen  on  them.''^ 

"There  were,  I  believe,  five  Poe  brothers  at  Prince- 
ton, all  of  whom  played  on  the  Varsity  football  team. 
They  varied  only  a  few  inches  in  height  and  a  few 
pounds  in  weight,  and  played  the  same  kind  of  a  game. 
All  were  of  light  weight." 

"A  clergyman  started  in  to  preach,  and  could  hardly 
restrain  himself  from  groaning  aloud,  so  violent  was 
the  pain  he  was  enduring  from  an  ulcerated  tooth. 
After  a  few  minutes  he  felt  no  pain  at  all,  though  it 
returned  when  he  had  finished  his  sermon." 

"What  is  the  basis  for  this  advice,  which  T  read 
in  a  book  on  education:  'To  assume  the  existence  of 
vice  [in  a  child]  is  often  to  produce  it.  We  must, 
therefore,  say  to  the  child:  "You  did  not  really  wish 
to  do  that;  but  see  how  others  would  interpret  your 
action  if  they  did  not  know  you."  '  " 

"An  Indian  visited  a  camp,  and  became  interested 
in  some  of  the  pictures  he  saw  there.  He  carefully 
followed  with  the  point  of  his  knife  the  outlines  of 
a  drawing  in  a  magazine.  When  asked  why  he  did 
so,  he  said  that  doing  so  would  help  him  to  carve 
a  likeness  of  it  when  he  returned  home.  What  sort  of 
imagery  was  strong  in  his  case?" 


The  Human  Nature  Club  199 

*'E.  W.  Sabel,  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  tells 
an  anecdote  of  Frederick  Villiers,  the  famous  war  cor- 
respondent. Villiers  had  been  under  fire  for  some 
days,  the  enemy  bombarding  the  force  to  which  the 
artist  was  attached,  so  that  the  arrival  of  a  shell  was 
a  commonplace  circumstance  to  be  treated  in  the 
usual  way.  Out  of  this  ordeal  he  came  unscathed  to 
London,  and  was  strolling  down  the  crowded  Strand. 

"On  a  sudden  the  pedestrians  were  appalled  to  see 
him  fling  himself  at  full  length  upon  the  greasy, 
muddy  pavement,  and  there  lie  on  his  face  rigid  as 
a  dead  man.  From  all  directions  men  rushed  to 
render  him  assistance.  They  turned  him  over  to  rub 
his  hands  and  unbutton  his  collar,  expecting  to  find 
him  in  a  fit.  But  no.  On  his  face  they  found  not  the 
pain  and  pallor  of  epilepsy,  but  astonishment  and 
mud.  Villiers,  when  they  laid  hold  of  him,  quickly 
jumped  to  his  feet,  shook  the  mud  from  his  hands  and 
clothes,  and  then  looked  around  for  an  explanation 
of  his  own  apparently  idiotic  act.  The  explantion 
was  forthcoming. 

"A  few  yards  behind  him  stood  a  horse  and  cart. 
The  carter  had  a  moment  after  Villiers  passed  pulled 
the  pin  and  allowed  the  cart-box  to  dump  upon  the 
ground  a  load  of  gravel.  The  heavy  beams  of  the 
cart,  of  course,  struck  the  wood  paving  with  a  resound- 
ing 'dull  thud,'  and  the  clean  gravel  hissed  out  with 
an  evil  roar.  This  combination  of  sounds,  the  war 
artist  declared,  was  identical  with  the  striking  of 
a  live  shell,  and  Villiers,  forgetting  that  he  then  stood 
some  thousands  of  miles  from  the  seat  of  war,  flung 
himself  down  to  await  the  dreadful  explosion." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SOME  DEEPER  QUESTIONS  ABOUT   HUMAN    NATURE 

"I've  made  a  collection  of  questions  from  our  ob- 
servation-box which  I  thought  might  all  be  taken  up 
together.  I  classed  them  together,  not  because  they 
were  about  the  same  matters,  but  because  I  hadn't 
any  notion  of  their  true  answers,  and  didn't  see  just 
how  they  could  be  answered,  but  perhaps  you  can  do 
better  than  I.      Here  they  are: 

"No.  I.  If  our  feelings  of  outside  things  are  due 
to  action  in  our  different  senses,  so  that  our  knowl- 
edge is  limited  by  our  sense-powers,  so  that,  in  fact, 
there  may  be  things  in  the  world  by  which  we  aren't 
influenced  at  all;  if,  also,  there  may  be  differences 
in  things  which  we  don't  feel;  if,  also,  we  feel  as 
sounds  what  are  really  vibrations  of  the  particles  of 
the  air,  as  colors  what  are  really  only  different  rates 
of  vibration  of  the  ether — how  can  we  be  said  to  know 
the  reality  of  the  world  at  all?  We  don't  seem  to  get 
it  all,  or  to  get  all  the  differences  in  it,  or  even  to  get 
it  as  it  is.  Don't  we  have  just  a  sham  world,  and 
may  not  the  reality  of  things  be  entirely  different? 

"No.  2.  What,  really,  is  a 'thing?'  Our  sensations 
of  things  vary.  Sugar  tastes  different  after  vinegar; 
it  looks  different  at  night;  its  weight  would  be  differ- 
ent on  the  moon.  What  is  its  reality?  What  stays 
the  same,  no  matter  how  much  our  feelings  of  it  vary? 

"No.  3.    If  willing  means  just  the  fact  that  some 

200 


The  Human  Nature  Club  201 

ideas  are  attended  to,  are  clear  and  emphatic  and 
possess  the  mind,  if  our  actions  are  the  result  of  the 
ideas  that  we  harbor,  what  do  we  mean  by  saying  that 
our  wills  are  free?  Are  they  free?  Do  we  really  do 
anything  in  the  universe  on  our  own  account*,  are  we 
really  in  the  game,  or  does  it  all  run  off  like  a  ma- 
chine?    Do  we  make  a  difference,  or  don't  we? 

"No  4.  Is  the  feeling  that  we  could  have  done 
otherwise,  which  we  have  after  an  act  or  a  choice, 
just  a  delusion?  Is  the  action  of  our  nerve-cells  in 
such  cases  really  decided,  as  the  course  of  a  bullet  is, 
or  do  our  own  selves  have  an  influence,  play  a  part? 

**No.  5.  If  our  thoughts  and  feelings  go  with  cer- 
tain cell  commotions  in  the  nervous  system,  how  can 
we  expect  to  have  any  existence  after  our  bodies  have 
returned  to  dust  again?  Or  if  we  can,  what  sort  of 
an  existence  can  it  be? 

"Nos.  I  and  2  are  really  the  same  question  in  dif- 
ferent words,  you  see.      So  also  with  3  and  4. 

"I  asked  Mr.  Northrup  to  come  in  to-night  because 
a  clergyman  is  supposed  to  know  more  about  the  last 
three  questions  than  common  people.  Won't  you 
answer  them  for  us,  Mr.   Northrup?" 

"I  won't  answer  them,  because  I  can't.  I  could 
give  you  on  questions  3  and  4  the  arguments  the- 
ologians give,  but  as  there  are  arguments  both  ways, 
and  very  good  and  wise  people  have  been  on  both 
sides,  I  suppose  that  won't  help.  And  question 
5  can't,  so  far  as  I  see,  be  answered.  If  you  accept 
the  New  Testament  as  a  piece  of  true  history,  you 
have  evidence  for  continuance  of  mental  life  apart 
from     the    body.      But    our    present-day    experience 


202  The  Human  Nature  Club 

doesn't  give  evidence  such  as  I  understand  you've 
sought  in  your  other  studies  of  human  nature. 

"I  would,  however,  like  to  say  a  word  before  you 
begin  to  talk  over  these  questions.  Your  study  of 
human  nature  has  led  you  up  to  three  of  life's  great- 
est problems,  the  problems  of  knowledge,  freedom 
and  immortality.  We  get  a  view  of  the  world  which 
enables  us  to  get  along  in  it,  but  what  is  it  really? 
Our  reasons  for  believing  in  the  existence  of  other 
people's  minds  are  our  experiences  of  their  physical 
actions.  What  becomes  of  their  minds  when  their 
physical  actions  cease?  We  make  movements,  do 
things  in  the  world,  but  so  do  trees  and  worms.  Do 
we  really  contribute  anything  to  the  universe?  These 
are  sweeping  questions,  which  have  absorbed  the 
thoughts  of  philosophers  for  hundreds  of  years. 
I  don't  honestly  believe  you  or  I  could  answer 
them." 

"It  won't  do  us  any  harm  to  think  about  them  for 
a  while,  I  guess,"  said  Arthur.  "If  they  can't  be 
answered  satisfactorily,  we  can  pick  the  most  prob- 
able answer,  or  find  out  how  they  might  be  answered, 
or  decide  which  answer,  if  both  are  equally  likely,  it's 
best  for  us  to  make,  or  perhaps  find  that  it's  our  duty 
not  to  make  any  answer,  or  that  it's  best,  after  you've 
thought  things  out  as  well  as  you  can,  to  drop  the 
whole  question." 

"I  was  to  blame  for  that  second  question,"  said 
Mr.  Tasker;  "and  as  I've  been  thinking  about  it  and 
reading  a  book  my  old  chum  recommended,  maybe 
I'd  better  say  what  I  can.  I've  come  to  think  that 
the  reality  of  things  is  really  an   inner  life  of  thought 


The  Human  Nature  Club  203 

and  feeling  something  like  our  own.  I'll  tell  you  why. 
What  do  you  know  me  as?  Your  knowledge  of  me 
is  of  a  moving  thing  with  brown  hair  and  blue  eyes, 
from  whom  certain  sounds  emerge,  who  is  so  heavy, 
and  so  hard  to  the  touch,  who  would  taste  so  and  so 
if  you  were  cannibals  and  ate  me.  I  to  you  am 
a  'thing'  known  by  sensations.  If  you  didn't  see  me 
or  hear  me  or  touch  me,  etc.,  you  wouldn't  believe  that 
I  existed.  But  what  do  I  know  myself  as?  I  to 
myself  2iVs\  a  lot  of  thoughts  and  feelings,  an  inner  life 
of  desire,  ambition,  effort,  etc.  I  am,  whether  you 
see  or  hear  me  or  not.  Now,  here  you  have  a  'thing' 
which  is  known  in  two  ways.  To  an  onlooker,  to  an 
outside  observer,  it  is  the  six-foot  biped  I  described, 
but  it  really  is  a  living  soul,  a  personal  consciousness. 
So  I  say  that  the  rest  of  the  'thing'  world,  the  trees, 
stones,  worms,  etc.,  are  in  reality  inner  conscious- 
nesses. To  itself  an  inner  life  of  feeling  is  an  inner 
life  of  feeling.  In  any  one  else  it  only  causes  sensa- 
tions of  sight,  touch,  taste,  etc." 

"Well,  I  was  to  blame  for  the  first  question,  which 
is  substantially  the  same  as  the  second,  and  I  think 
your  answer  is  just  mystical  rubbish,"  said  Arthur. 
"Certainly  a  human  being  does  have  an  inner  being, 
his  stream  of  feelings,  and  an  appearance  to  other 
people,  his  living  body.  But  that  doesn't  prove  that 
the  inner  being  is  the  reality,  corresponding  to  the 
outer  appearance.  That  might  correspond  to  his  arm 
or  eyebrow  or  to  nothing,  and  the  rest  of  the  'thing' 
his  body,  or  all  of  it,  might  have  a  reality  of  its  own. 
Moreover,  there  might  be  a  different  law  for  sticks 
from  that  for  complex   things  like  the  human  body. 


STATE  I'ORriAL  SCHOOL 


204  The  Human  Nature  Club 

That  a  consciousness  reality  went  with  one  wouldn't 
prove  that  it  went  with  another. 

"I  think  we  just  don  t  know  any  'reality'  for  the 
world  of  things,  or  rather  I  would  say  that  they  have 
all  sorts  of  realities,  because  I  would  say  that  the  ways 
they  impressed  us  were  their  realities.  They  are  'all 
things  to  all  men.'  They  are  what  they  seem  because 
they  really  aren't,  but  ofily  seem.  Don't  laugh. 
I  mean  it.  I  mean  that  sugar  really  is  sweet  one  time 
and  not  sweet  another,  white  in  one  light  and  gray  in 
another,  etc.,  because  I  claim  that  all  that  phrases 
like  is^  is  really^  is  in  reality  can  mean,  is  feels  to  us." 

"I'm  sure  I  don't  know  what  you're  talking 
about,"  said  Mrs.  Elkin.  "Let's  go  on  to  the  next 
question.     You  men  can  fight  this  out  later." 

"Perhaps  I  ought  to  own  up  to  that  third  question, 
as  to  whether  we  really  ourselves  initiate  any  action, 
whether  we  really  choose  between  two  possible 
acts,  or  really  are  just  like  clocks  wound  up  by  some 
outside  power,"  said  Mr.  Elkin.  "That  is  a  question 
in  theology  that  always  interested  me,  and  I  confess 
I  believe  with  the  old-time  Calvinists  that  an  all-wise 
being  could  prophesy  everything  that  any  one  of  us 
will  do.  I  don't  see  that  our  actions  can  be  otherwise 
than  the  result  of  our  inherited  nature  and  the  circum- 
stances which  influence  us.  We  are  just  little  wheels 
in  the  big  universe  machine,  which  turn  according  to 
the  way  the  whole  machine  works." 

"Well,  I  wrote  question  4,  and  I've  come  to  just 
the  opposite  opinion"  said  Mr.  Henshaw.  "We  cer- 
tainly feel,  after  any  act,  that  we  could  have  done 
otherwise." 


The  Human  Nature  Club  205 

"But  there's  no  guarantee  that  that  feeling  repre- 
sents the  true  state  of  the  case.  The  hypnotized  per- 
son, who  is  the  mere  tool  of  the  hypnotizer,  some- 
times feels  that  he  is  doing  what  he  pleases  of  his 
own  free  will.  In  dreams  we  feel  that  things  are 
real,  but  that  doesn't  make  them  so." 

"I  wasn't  going  to  argue  from  that.  I  was  just 
going  on  to  say  that  if  that  feeling  is  a  delusion,  if 
we  are  really  just  puppets,  moved  back  and  forth  by 
some  outside  power,  then  responsibility,  merit  and 
blame  can  have  no  real  meaning.  If  the  man  who 
murders  his  mother  does  it  just  because  that's  a 
part  of  the  universe-play  in  which  he's  a  puppet- 
actor,  he  can't  really  be  blamed  for  it.  He  is  acting 
in  just  the  same  way  as  the  hero  who  saves  a  life;  only 
he  happens  to  have  a  different  part  in  the  play.  If 
we  are  to  be  responsible  for  our  conduct,  we  must  have 
real  control  over  it.  I  confess  that  my  experience 
with  people  leads  me  often  to  doubt  whether  they  are 
really  free  agents,  directors  of  their  own  conduct. 
In  dealing  with  people  we  do  act  on  the  supposition 
that  their  choices  will  be  made  in  accordance  with 
circumstances.  We  don't  expect  a  man  to  act  freely. 
We  expect  his  nature  and  training  and  the  induce- 
ments we  offer  to  decide  his  choice.  Still,  Elkin, 
I  have  faith  that  this  world  is  a  moral  world,  where 
people  really  are  responsible  for  their  actions,  and  so 
I  have  faith  that  their  wills  are  free.  Life  would  be 
just  a  sham  battle  if  we  didn't  count,  if  we  weren't 
real  contributors  for  good  or  evil  to  the  world's  his- 
tory.    We  do  make  a  difference  and  are  responsible 


2o6  The  Human  Nature  Club 

for  the  differences  we  make,  or  else  there's  no  good- 
ness or  badness." 

"When  you  put  it  in*  that  way  I  don't  feel  like  con- 
tradicting you,  but  how  can  we  be  real  contributors? 
To  say  that  a  man  does  a  thing  from  free  choice 
seems  to  me  to  mean  just  that  he  does  it  by  chance, 
for  no  reason  at  all,  but  we've  seen  that  the  ideas  he 
has,  the  habits  he's  formed,  the  motives  that  are  pres- 
ent, decide  his  action." 

"You've  got  around  to  where  the  philosophers 
are,"  said  Mr.  Northrup.  "It  seems  as  if  our  acts 
were  foreordained  as  a  part  of  the  world-machine, 
but  we  also  all  have  faith  that  there  is  real  merit  and 
real  blame — /.  e.,  real  responsibility — and  so  we  have 
faith  that  our  acts  are  not  all  foreordained,  but  are 
really  due  to  our  own  selves." 

"I  don't  believe  Mr.  Elkin  really  believes  a  word 
he  says,"  remarked  Miss  Clark.  "People  only  deny 
the  freedom  of  the  will  when  they  want  to  excuse 
themselves  from  some  bad  action.  It's  only  people 
who  are  bad  that  claim  that  we  are  creatures  of  cir- 
cumstance, that  drunkenness  is  a  disease,  that  theft 
is  due  to  temptation,  etc." 

"My  dear  young  lady,"  retorted  Mr.  Northrup, 
"I  know  that  the  view  you've  just  taken  is  a  common 
one,  but  I  assure  you  it's  totally  false  and  wicked. 
One  of  the  best  men  I  ever  knew  told  me  that  in 
looking  over  for*"y  years  of  his  life  he  didn't  see  how 
a  bit  of  it  could  have  been  otherwise.  He  said  he 
couldn't  claim  praise  for  any  of  the  good  parts,  and 
didn't  really  see  that  he  could  have  avoided  the  bad 
parts.      Any  theoretic  view  may  be  put  to  a  bad  use. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  207 

Some  folks  believe  in  heaven  just  because  they  want 
to  loaf  forever.  It  is  no  discredit  at  all  to  a  man  if 
it  seems  to  him  that  his  life  is  determined  for  him  by 
the  constitution  of  the  universe." 

"It  seems  to  me,"  said  Arthur,  "that  real  belief 
in  either  of  these  theories  needn't  have  much  to  do 
with  saying  'Yea,  yea'  or  'Nay,  nay'  to  them.  /'Real 
belief  is,  I  think,  a  tendency  to  act  as  if  a  thing  were 
so.  '|If  we  believe  that  a  team  is  in  front  of  us,  we  try 
to  g6t  out  of  the  way  of  it;  if  we  believe  that  a  man 
is  a  liar,  we  don't  trust  him;  if  we  believe  that  the 
moon  is  inhabited,  we'll  focus  telescopes  upon  it,  and 
so  on  and  on.  Now,  just  saying  a  thing  is  so  may  be 
compatible  with  real  disbelief  of  the  sort  I've  described. 
I  should  say  that  the  important  question  was  whether 
a  man  acted  as  if  he  were  really  responsible,  acted  as 
if  he  really  could  contribute  to  the  good  or  bad  in  the 
world,  and  that  it  mattered  not  so  much  what  he  said 
or  wrote  about  it.  Of  course,  his  theories  might 
somewhat  influence  this  more  important  active  belief. 

"My  interest  in  this  question  is  not  to  try  to  settle 
it,  but  to  notice  that  people  are  split  into  two  great 
classes,  on  the  basis  of  their  active  attitude  toward 
this  question.  Some  people  feel  responsibility,  feel 
the  importance  of  life,  feel  that  every  one  of  their 
moral  choices  will  make  a  difference  to  them  and  to 
the  world,  and  constantly  act  as  if  they  did  count,  as 
if  they  were  themselves  making  the  world  what  it  is  to 
be.  Another  class  are  swayed  by  outside  influences, 
follow  the  style,  take  what  comes,  accept,  as  they 
say,  the  inevitable.  They  are  always  committing 
their  careers  into  some  one  else's  hands.     They  act 


2o8  The  Human  Nature  Club 

as  if  they  couldnt  count,  as  if  they  had  no  part  to 
play,  save  passive  non-resistance.  They  may  say, 
'Oh,  certainly,  I  believe  in  the  freedom  of  the  will,' 
but  they  are  the  real  disbelievers. 

"The  same  thing  holds  concerning  the  last  ques- 
tion, the  question  of  the  immortality  of  the  mind  after 
the  death  of  the  body.  There  are  some  people  who, 
whatever  they  say  with  their  lips,  act  as  if  this  life 
was  all.  They  may  talk  about  immortality,  but  the 
'beer  and  skittles,'  the  applause  and  comforts  of  this 
mundane  sphere,  make  up  the  situation  to  which  they 
react.  Other  people,  some  of  whom  may  not  be  sure 
that  human  natures  can  exist  apart  from  human 
bodies,  yet  live  as  if  they  were  probationers  for 
a  larger  life,  as  if  in  the  world  as  a  whole  honor  and 
duty  and  truth  and  love  did  count  more  than  they 
seem  to  here.  Each  man  chooses  the  aspects  of  the 
universe  to  which  he  will  react,  and  these  choose  to 
react  to  the  nobler  and  larger  life.  The  practical 
^  question  is  not,  'What  do  you  say  the  world  is?'  but, 
'What  kind  of  a  world  is  your  conduct,  your  active 
belief,  adapted  to?'  " 

The  company  were  silent  for  several  moments  after 
Arthur  had  finished.      Finally  Miss  Atwell  spoke. 

"Yet  we  ought  to  know  all  we  can  about  these 
things,  ought  we  not?  Thomas  Arnold  says  some- 
where: 'Concerning  whatsoever  matters  it  is  our  duty 
to  act,  concerning  those  matters  it  is  also  our  duty 
to  think. '  I  should  suppose  that  our  theoretical  opin- 
ions would  influence  what  you  call  our  active  belief." 

"They  will,  of  course.  I  just  wanted  to  show  that 
the  latter  was  really  the  more  vital  fact." 


The  Human  Nature  Club  209 

"I  asked  that  question  about  immortality,"  Miss 
Atwell  went  on.  "You  don't  think  it  irreverent,  Mr. 
Northrup?" 

"Certainly  not.  It's  a  question  that  the  most  rever- 
ent men  have  again  and  again  asked.  Even  if  we  are 
sure  that  we  shall  have  continued  existence,  we  want 
to  know  how  it  is  possible." 

"I  was  once  taught,"  said  Mr.  Tasker,  "that  my 
sensations  and  memories  and  imagery  and  feelings  of 
activity  and  emotions  depended  on  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, yet  my  'reason'  did  not,  and  that  it  would  exist 
after  the  death  of  the  body,  though  sensations  and 
emotions,  etc.,  would  be  gone.  That  might  be  true, 
though  I  don't  believe  it  is;  but  I  can't  see  that  that 
sort  of  immortality  would  be  of  any  use.  You 
couldn't  remember  anything,  you  wouldn't  know  your 
own  name,  or  have  any  facts  to  reason  about,  or  love, 
or  feel  duty.  You  would  just  be  a  bare  'reason,' 
which  would  be  no  better  than  nothing.  Everybody 
would  be  alike.  Unless  we  have  a  real  personal  exist- 
ence continuous  with  this  one,  I  don't  see  what  differ- 
ence it  makes  whether  we  have  any." 

"I'm  glad  you  spoke  of  that,  Tasker,"  replied  Mr. 
Henshaw,  "because  I  happened  to  read  a  while  ago 
a  book  by  an  eminent  psychologist,  who  believes  that 
real  complete  personal  existence  can  continue  after 
death.  We  often  talk  as  if  when  one  of  us  died 
a  sort  of  superfine  angelic  being  was  born  in  the  other 
world.  But  unless  that  being  is  myself,  unless  it 
remembers  my  acts  and  thoughts,  what  value  is  its 
existence  to  me,  or  what  justice  is  there  in  rewarding 
or  punishing   it  for  my   deeds?     Now,    this    psychol- 


Iio  The  Human  Nature  Club 

ogist — who,  by  the  way,  believes  that  our  thougnts 
and  feelings  do  parallel  and  go  with  commotions  in 
nerve-cells' — says  that  this  need  in  no  way  imply  that 
our  thoughts  and  feelings  cannot  go  on  just  the  same 
or.better  without  them.  For,  he  says,  the  nerve-cells 
might  be  just  the  means  of  transmitting  these  thoughts 
and  feelings,  which  might  exist  apart,  but  as  light 
penetrates  through  transparent  substances,  so  might 
they  appear  in  connection  with  these  human  brains  of 
ours.  I  think  I  can  quote  you  one  passage  from 
memory. 

"  'Suppose  ....  that  the  whole  universe  of 
material  things — the  furniture  of  earth  and  choir  of 
heaven — should  turn  out  to  be  a  mere  surface  veil 
of  phenomena,  hiding  and  keeping  back  the  world  of 

genuine  realities Admit  now   that  our  brains 

are  ....  thin  and  half-transparent  places  in  the 
veil.  What  will  happen?  Why,  as  the  white  radiance 
comes  through  the  dome  with  all  sorts  of  staining  and 
distortion  imprinted  on  it  by  the  glass,  ....  the 
life  of  souls  as  it  is  in  its   fullness  will  break  through 

our  several  brains  into  this  world And  when 

finally  a  brain  stops  acting  altogether,  ....  the 
sphere  of  being  that  supplied  the  consciousness  would 
still  be  intact;  and  in  that  more  real  world  ....  the 
consciouness  might,  in  ways  unknown  to  us,  continue 
still.'  •" 

"What  do  you  think  of  that,  Mr.  Northrup?" 
"That's  very  ingenious,  and  of  one  thing  I'm  con- 
fident.     The  universe  is  very  big,  and  may  hold  facts 
in   store   for  us  that   we   don't   dream   of.      Among  its 

'William  James,  "  Human  Iininortaiity,"  pp.  16-18. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  211 

facts  may  be  a  real  being  for  things  other  than  our 
present  feelings  of  them,  a  real  freedom  in  our  actions, 
a  real  existence  apart  from  the  body.  Of  another 
thing  I'm  still  more  confident.  The  more  keenly  we 
seek  the  truth  about  how  things  do  seem  to  act,  about 
what  they  seem  to  be,  the  better  we  shall  know  what 
they  really  are.  The  more  earnestly  we  rationalize 
our  lives,  the  more  fully  we  rid  ourselves  of  weak 
superstitions  and  blind  imitation  of  other  people,  the 
less  rein  we  give  to  accident  and  mere  opinion  and 
gross  impulse,  the  more  real  freedom  of  will  we  shall 
have,  if  there  be  any.  And  the  more  zealously  we 
work  to  make  this  a  good  and  happy  world,  the  better 
fitted  shall  we  be  to  take  our  places  in  any  other." 

"I'd  like  to  read  you  a  few  words  which  show 
a  character  that  realizes  Mr.  Northrup's  ideal,"  said 
Mr.  Tasker,  as  he  reached  over  to  the  bookcase  anti 
took  down  a  book. 

"The  Greek  philosopher,  Socrates,  is  on  trial  for 
impiety,  and  is  threatened  with  death.  Plato,  his 
biographer,  makes  him  say,  in  a  passage  which  even 
in  translation  is  of  remarkable  beauty: 

"  'Some  one  will  say:  And  are  you  not  ashamed, 
Socrates,  of  a  course  of  life  which  is  likely  to  bring 
you  to  an  untimely  end?  To  him  I  may  fairly  answer: 
There  you  are  mistaken;  a  man  who  is  good  for  any- 
thing ought  not  to  calculate  the  chance  of  living  or 
dying;  he  ought  only  to  consider  whether  in  doing 
anything  he  is  doing  right  or  wrong — acting  the  part 

of  a  good    man  or  a  bad For  wherever 

a  man's  place  is,  whether  the  place  which  he  has 
chosen  or  that  in  which  he  has  been  placed  by  a  com- 


212  The  Human  Nature  Club 

mander,  there  he  ought  to  remain  in  the  hour  of 
danger;  he  should  not  thinlc  of  death  or  of  anything 
but  disgrace.  And  this,  O  men  of  Athens,  is  a  true 
saying. 

''  'Strange  indeed  would  be  my  conduct,  O  men  of 
Athens,  if  I  who,  when  I  was  ordered  by  the  generals 
whom  you  chose  to  command  me  at  Potidaea  and 
Amphipolis  and  Delium,  remained  where  they  placed 
me,  like  any  other  man,  facing  death;  if,  I  say,  now, 
when,  as  I  conceive  and  imagine,  God  orders  me  to 
fulfill  the  philosopher's  mission  of  searching  into  my- 
self and  other  men,  I  were  to  desert  my  post  through 
fear  of  death,  or  any  other  fear;  that  would  indeed  be 
strange,  and  I  might  justly  be  arraigned  in  court  for 
denying  the  existence  of  the  gods  if  I  disobeyed  the 
oracle  because  I  was  afraid  of  death;  then  I  should  be 
fancying  that  I  was  wise  when  I  was  not  wise.  For 
the  fear  of  death  is  indeed  the  pretense  of  wisdom  and 
not  real  wisdom,  being  a  pretended  knowledge  of  the 
unknown;  and  no  one  knows  whether  death,  which 
men  in  their  fear  apprehend  to  be  the  greatest  evil, 
may  not  be  the  greatest  good.  Is  there  not  here  con- 
ceit of  knowledge  which  is  a  disgraceful  sort  of  igno- 
rance? And  this  is  the  point  in  which,  as  I  think, 
I  differ  from  others,  ....  that  whereas  I  know  but 
little  of  the  world  below,  I  do  not  suppose  that  I  know, 
but  I  do  know  that  injustice  and  disobedience  to 
a  better,  whether  God  or  man,  is  evil  and  dishonor- 
able." 

"Socrates  is  declared  guilty  and  condemned  to 
death.      His  last  words  to  the  judges  are: 

'Jowett's  translation  ol  Plato's  '  Apologia," 


The  Human  Nature  Club  213 

"  'Still  I  have  a  favor  to  ask  of  them.  When  my 
sons  are  grown  up,  I  would  ask  you,  O  my  friends,  to 
punish  them;  and  I  would  have  you  trouble  them  as 
I  have  troubled  you,  if  they  seem  to  care  about  riches 
or  anything  more  than  about  virtue,  or  if  they  pretend 
to  be  something  when  they  are  really  nothing — then 
reprove  them  as  I  have  reproved  you,  for  not  caring 
about  that  for  which  they  ought  to  care,  and  thinking 
that  they  are  something  when  they  are  really  nothing. 
And  if  you  do  this,  I  and  my  sons  will  have  received 
justice  at  your  hands. 

"  'The  hour  of  departure  has  arrived,  and  we  go 
our  ways — I  to  die  and  you  to  live.  Which  is  better, 
God  only  knows.'  '" 

'Idem. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

SOME    ADVICE    FROM    THE    EDITOR    ABOUT     MEANS 
OF   STUDYING    HUMAN   NATURE 

There  are  many  aspects  of  human  nature  which  we 
may  study,  and  a  number  of  ways  of  knowing  about 
them.  One  may,  for  instance,  by  living  among  peo- 
ple and  watching  their  ways,  gain  an  undefined,  intui- 
tive skill  in  guessing  what  is  in  a  man's  mind,  how  he 
will  act  in  various  circumstances,  and  what  are  the 
best  ways  to  handle  him  in  order  to  attain  some  pur- 
pose we  have  set  before  us.  The  book  agent  knows 
human  nature  in  its  book-buying  features  in  this  way. 
The  experienced  teacher  may  in  this  way  have  a  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  children,  though  she  might  not 
know  how  many  senses  they  had  or  what  the  difference 
was  between  memory  and  instinct.  The  tactful  soci- 
ety woman,  too,  may  have  a  successful  insight  into 
people's  feelings,  without  being  at  all  able  to  analyze 
or  describe  them.  A  lofty  instance  of  this  intuitive 
knowledge  of  human  nature  due  to  the  concrete  study 
of  actual  people  was  furnished  by  Abraham  Lincoln. 

There  are  also  some  gifted  minds  who,  even  in 
imaginative  flights  and  conventional  literary  produc- 
tions, are  able  to  present  living  men  who  might  walk 
out  of  the  novel  or  play  into  our  church  or  club.  To 
take    the    stock    example,     Shakspere     possessed    an 

214 


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215 


imagination  that  could  manufacture  a  dialogue  that 
rings  true  to  human  nature.  Yet  he  probably  knew 
less  than  Mr.  Tasker  about  the  definite  questions 
discussed  in  this  book.  He  knew  human  nature 
imaginatively,  but  not  scientifically. 

Now,  it  is  patent  that  the  editor  of  this  book  has 
no  such  knowledge  of  human  nature  as  enables  one  to 
give  lifelike  portrayals  of  men  and  women.  On  the' 
contrary,  the  characters  in  this  book  are  little  better 
than  marionettes.  They  all  talk  alike.  If  you  take  a 
sentence  and  try  to  guess  which  member  of  the  club 
spoke  it,  you  find  that  you  can't,  that  the  author 
hasn't  endowed  his  characters  with  life.  If  the  book 
were  intended  to  display  the  human  nature  of  Mrs. 
Ralston  and  Misses  Atwell,  Fairbanks  and  Clark, 
and  the  rest,  it  would  be  a  complete  failure.  Dra- 
matically it  is  an  atrocity.  Further,  it  is  extremely 
probable  that  the  author  would  make  a  mediocre  book 
agent,  and  bring  calamity  to  any  social  circle  he 
might  try  to  lead. 

One  can  study  human  nature  considerably,  then, 
without  gaining  concrete  insight  into  people's  minds 
or  ability  to  portray  them.  One  can  study  the  eletnents 
that  make  up  a  person's  mind  and  the  general  factors 
that  influence  our  mental  lives.  This  is  what  the  psy- 
chologist does,  what  the  members  of  the  club  did. 
It  is  likely  that  such  general  study  of  the  workings  of 
human  minds  will  assist  one's  practical  insight  into 
concrete,  individual  characters.  But  the  one  does 
not  presuppose  the  other. 

This  study  of  the  general  factors  at  work  in  all 
minds    consists    of    observing    facts,    thinking   about 


2i6  The  Human  Nature  Club 

them  and  testing  the  opinions  thus  gained  by  seeing 
how  well  they  fit  the  facts  observed.  It  is  especially 
desirable  to  devise  circumstances  in  which  a  person's 
behavior  will  reveal  important  facts  about  the  work- 
ings of  his  mind,  and  reveal  them  in  a  definite,  exact 
and  unmistakable  way.  If  you  wish  to  know  whether 
a  person  has  acute  power  of  sensation — of  sight,  for 
instance — it  is  better  to  arrange  a  lot  of  letters  as 
oculists  do,  and  observe  how  well  he  can  read  them  at 
a  certain  distance,  than  to  trust  to  your  general  obser- 
vations of  the  way  he  uses  his  eyes.  It  is  better  to 
make  exact  observations  under  illuminating  condi- 
tions— that  is,  to  make  experiments — than  to  trust  to 
chance  observations.  One  can  almost  always  improve 
his  vague  opinion  on  any  subject  by  devising  means 
to  make  his  observations  more  detailed,  more  accu- 
rate and  more  significant. 

In  studying  human  nature  in  the  psychologist's 
way,  one  may  well  begin  by  observing  and  experi- 
menting on  one's  self.  Look  at  your  sensations, 
imagery,  memories,  judgments,  emotions,  decisions, 
acts,  habits;  test  the  delicacy  of  your  discrimination, 
the  extent  of  your  memory,  the  degree  of  concentra- 
tion of  which  you  are  able;  recall  and  think  out  your 
trains  of  thought,  your  dreams,  your  tastes  and  prefer- 
ences. The  result  will  be  that  you  will  be  better  able 
to  understand  other  people  and  to  appreciate  the 
meaning  of  what  is  said  in  books  about  psychology. 
The  chapters  in  James's  "Principles  of  Psychology" 
mentioned  at  the  end  of  this  book  will  be  a  helpful 
guide  in  this  work.  [ 

Mental  life  is,  however,  broader  than  the  measure 


The  Human  Nature  Club  217 

of  any  single  person's  mind,  and  though  training  in 
the  description  and  analysis  of  one's  feelings  is  a  use- 
ful, perhaps  necessary,  preliminary  to  the  study  of 
human  nature,  it  is  only  one  of  a  number  of  studies 
worth  undertaking.  Those  whom  it  specially  inter- 
ests may  carry  it  out  to  a  well-nigh  unlimited  extent, 
picking  to  pieces  every  feeling  they  have,  and  discov- 
ering its  exact  nature  and  composition,  but  the  aver- 
age student  will  prefer  to  leave  it  after  a  while  in 
favor  of  some  of  the  following  topics: 

1.  The  causes  of  our  intellects  and  characters,  the 
nervous  activities  which  go  with  them,  the  influence 
of  inherited  structure,  general  bodily  condition,  drugs, 
foods,  climate,  brain  diseases,  education,  etc. 

2.  The  causes  of  special  mental  and  moral  quali- 
ties, such  as  genius,  insanity,  criminality,  idiocy, 
superstition,  'crankiness,'  sentimentality,  accuracy, 
attentiveness,  etc. 

3.  The  origin  of  human  nature  and  its  develop- 
ment in  the  life  of  each  human  being  from  infancy. 
The  mental  life  of  lower  animals. 

4.  Differences  in  the  mental  make-up  of  different 
races  and  nationalities  of  men. 

5.  The  influence  of  our  mental  constitutions,  our 
thoughts  and  feelings,  on  our  actions,  and  so  on  other 
people.     The  part  mental  life  plays  in  the  world. 

6.  The  exact  estimation  of  any  individual's  mental 
equipment  and  tendencies.  A  mental  diagnosis  which 
may  inform  a  man  what  his  nature  is,  how  he  differs 
from  his  fellows,  what  he  is  good  for,  what  his  weak- 
nesses are,  etc. 

Other   topics — e.    g.,    the   psychology   of    men    as 


21 8  The  Human  Nature  Club 

social  beings,  considering  the  relations  of  one  mind 
to  others,  might  be  added  to  this  list,  but  it  is 
already  long  enough  to  show  that  there  are  plenty  of 
questions  concerning  human  nature  worth  thinking 
about. 

You  may  remember  that  the  founders  of  the  club 
started  out  with  the  notion  that  they  could  observe 
human  nature  without  book  knowledge  or  previous 
experience.  They  found  it  worth  while  to  call  in 
a  man  who  knew  about  the  human  brain  at  their  very 
first  meeting,  and  they  soon  turned  to  Mr.  Tasker's 
books  as  helpful  and  even  indispensable.  As  soon  as 
you  study  any  aspect  of  human  nature  in  earnest  you 
will  find  that  progress  depends  on  knowing  what 
other  people  have  found  out  in  that,  and  indeed  in 
other  sciences.  To  know  much  about  a  man's  mind, 
you  must  know  about  his  body,  especially  his  nervous 
system,  and  thus  you  need  a  knowledge  of  anatomy 
and  physiology.  To  study  our  second  topic  to  the 
best  advantage  you  must  know  something  of  the  gen- 
eral laws  of  heredity.  To  study  the  third  topic  you 
must  know  the  order  of  development  in  the  animal 
world.  Thus  one  needs  an  acquaintance  with  zoology. 
So  on  through  the  list. 

One's  first  duty,  then,  is  modesty.  Every  reader 
of  this  book  should  know  that  it  gives  but  a  bare  and 
meager  outline  of  a  very  few  of  the  facts  of  human 
nature,  that  it  can  only  be  an  introduction  to  the 
study  of  mental  life.  Knowledge  of  psychology  and 
ability  to  study  psychology  fruitfully  are,  we  shall  all 
agree,  worthy  accomplishments.  Like  most  good 
things,  they  are  hard  to  get.      The  best  fruit  on   the 


The  Human  Nature  Club  219 

tree  of  knowledge  is  on  the  topmost  branches.  To 
reach  it  you  must  climb. 

I  have  placed  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  a  list  of 
books  which  may  serve  as  guides  in  the  study  of  psy- 
chology to  any  who  have  been  awakened  to  an  interest 
in  such  facts  as  this  little  book  describes.' 

In  reading  them  it  will  be  well  to  make  as  you  go 
along  a  list  of  words  the  meaning  of  which  is  not 
entirely  clear,  and  so  far  as  possible  to  find  out  in 
each  case  the  exact  meaning  then  and  there.  It  will 
also  pay  to  compare  the  opinions  of  different  authors 
in  cases  where  they  treat  the  same  topic.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  value  to  think  up  examples  of  every  fact  you 
learn,  to  note  any  evidence  you  can  from  your  own 
experience  for  or  against  any  statement  made  by  an 
author,  and  to  make  sure  as  you  go  along  that  you 
know  just  what  question  the  author  is  trying  to  settle, 
just  what  he  is  driving  at.  Finally,  it  is  our  duty 
toward  any  writer  to  drop  for  the  time  being  our  pre- 
vious conceptions  and  prejudices,  to  receive  his  opinion 
in  an  open  mind. 

Reading  books  is  but  one  way  to  get  knowledge, 
and  possibly  not  the  best.  If  you  have  followed  the 
suggestion  made  in  the  introduction,  and  collected 
facts  and  noted  questions  and  made  experiments,  you 
will  recognize  that  we  verify  our  book  knowledge  by 
associating  with  it  knowledge  of  real  things.  In  the 
end,  psychology  must  always  be  a  system  of  facts 
about  real  men  and  women,  and  the  study  of  books 
about  psychology  will  be  of  most  value  to   him  who 

'These  books  are  all  worthy  of  purchase  by  any  public  library.  Their 
contents  should  be  in  the  main  intelligible  to  any  thoughtful  student  of 
this  book. 


120  The  Human  Nature  Club 

studies  real  people  as  well.  General  observation  of 
people's  thoughts  and  conduct  should  have  already 
become  your  habit.  Special  detailed  study  of  some 
phase  of  mental  life  is  also  of  great  service  in 
bringing  us  close  to  fact  and  teaching  us  care  and 
precision. 

I  have  therefore  prepared  directions  for  a  number 
of  such  studies,  none  very  pretentious,  but  all  worth 
undertaking  if  one  has  the  serious  purpose  of  improv- 
ing his  knowledge  of  psychology.  Unless  you  are 
considerable  of  a  genius  it  will  be  wise  to  follow  these 
directions  exactly. 

I.    A  Psychological  Autobiography. 

The  aim  of  this  study  is  to  find  out  what  factors 
determine  your  mental  history,  what  makes  you  the 
man  or  woman  you  are. 

Record  every  year  what  you  think  your  mental 
make-up  is,  what  knowledge,  interests,  habits,  powers, 
ideas,  emotional  tendencies  and  type  of  will  you 
possess.  Write  in  detail.  After  the  first  record, 
made  say  in  January,  1901,  you  need  record  annually 
only  changes — /.  ^. ,  additions  or  losses.  Then  record 
all  the  important  factors  under  the  influence  of  which 
you  have  been  that  year.  Then  try  to  think  how  each 
change  in  you  has  been  caused,  and  what  the  effect 
on  you  of  each  influence  has  been,  and  write  down 
your  opinions.  So  far  as  possible,  recall  your  make-up 
at  each  year  of  your  life,  as  far  back  as  you  can 
remember,  and  make  a  record  for  each  year.  Do  the 
same  with  the  influence  of  each  year.  Try  to  think 
out  what  has  made  you  what  you  are  from  childhood 
on.      Get   the   opinions   of  your   family  and   friends. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  221 

Try    to    find    good    evidence    for   every    opinion    you 
rorm. 

A  record  like  this  is  less  irksome  to  keep  than 
a  diary,  and  probably  much  more  profitable.  A  handy 
way  of  keeping  it  would  be  to  use  very  wide  paper, 
dividing  it  by  vertical  lines  into  three  columns.  In 
the  first,  one  should  describe  his  make-up  under 
a  number  of  separate  headings,  such  as — 

age 

height 

weight 

health 

eyesight 

hearing 

imagery 

memory 

attentiveness 

method  of  thinking 

suggestibility 

imitativeness 

Hkes 

dislikes 

emotions 

vigor 

kinds 


etc. 

sentimentality 

nervousness 
bodily  control 
type  of  will 

In  the  second  column  should  be  described,  in  some 
regular  system  of  groups,  all  the  factors  that  have 
been  influencing  you,  such  as: 


Ill  The  Human  Nature  Club 

1.  Variations  in  growth,  health,  or  other  physical 
influences. 

2.  Physical  surroundings — /.  e.,  locality,  sights, 
sounds,  etc. 

3.  Persons.      In  the  home. 

Out  of  the  home. 

4.  Organizations — e.  g.,  Church. 

Club. 

Business  life. 
Political  life. 

5.  Information  acquired — /.  e.,  the  influence  of 
books,  studies,  etc. 

In  the  third  column  should  be  noted  the  inferences 
about  what  factors  in  column  2  caused  the  changes 
noted  in  column  i.  Of  course,  such  a  record  should 
be  carefully  preserved,  as  it  might  be  of  great  interest 
to  one's  children. 

A  final  caution  is  necessary  concerning  such 
a  record.  Confine  yourself  strictly  to  matters  of 
observed  facts  concerning  the  outward  ma?ii/estations 
of  your  make-up.  Do  not  for  the  purposes  of  this 
record,  or  indeed  for  any  purpose,  think  about  your 
inner  self,  your  peculiar  inward  being  or  your  moral 
nature.  Do  not  pry  into  what  lady  novelists  call  "the 
recesses  of  your  heart. "  Your  opinions  about  them 
would  be  of  no  psychological  value  to  you  or  any  one 
else,  and  they  do  not  work  well  if  looked  at  too  often. 

A  Study  of  Habit. 
In  general. 

The  aim  of  this  study  will  be  to  give  you  som^  con- 
crete   ideas    of    (i)    the   part   habits    play    in    human 


The  Human  Nature  Club  223 

nature;  (2)  the  regularity  of  habits;  (3)  their  variety 
among  different  people;  and  (4)  the  speed  with  which 
acts  become  habitual. 

Notice  in  yourself  and  in  as  many  other  people  as 
you  can  what  acts  are  performed  by  mere  force  of 
habit.  Keep  records.  See  how  much  of  human  life 
is  carried  on  in  this  way.  See  in  the  case  of  certain 
common  automatic  actions  (i)  whether  the  same  per- 
son regularly  performs  the  act  in  the  same  way;  (2) 
how  far  different  people  perform  the  act  in  the  same 
way.  Keep  records.  Notice  the  growth  of  some 
habit. 

In  particular. 

1.  Think  of  a  number  of  acts  in  the  case  of  which 
it  seems  to  you  worth  while  to  ask,  "Is  this  performed 
automatically,  or  does  it  require  conscious  direction?" 
Take  a  broad  sheet  of  paper  and  arrange  your  list  in 
a  column  at  the  left-hand  edge.  Then  at  intervals  of 
an  inch  or  two  rule  vertical  lines  down  the  page.  At 
the  head  of  the  columns  thus  formed  put  the  names  of 
the  people  you  are  observing,  and  a  brief  description 
of  them — e.  g.,  age,  occupation,  early  training,  etc. 
Then  when  you  find  out  whether  any  act  is  in  the  case 
of  any  one  of  them  automatic,  make  a  note  beneath 
the  proper  name  and  on  a  level  with  the  proper  act. 

Your  sheet  then  will  look  like  the  table  given  on 
page  224,  after  some  time's  work,  and  should  eventu- 
ally be  entirely  filled  out. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  common  habitual  performances — 
e.  g.,  putting  on  one's  shoes,  taking  them  off,  taking 
off  one's  collar,  opening  the  door  of  some  frequently 


224 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


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w 

The  Human  Nature  Club  225 

visited  room,  carrying  a  light  bundle,  order  of  acts 
on  sitting  down  to  the  breakfast-table,  etc. 

Notice  in  every  person  you  can  whether  the  act  is 
always  carried  out  alike  on  say  four  different  occa- 
sions. For  instance,  notice  whether  you  always  put 
on  the  left  shoe  first.  Do  you  always  take  the  same 
shoe  off  first?  Notice  which  end  of  your  collar  you 
button  first.  See  if  you  always  do  so.  Observe  in 
the  same  way  which  hand  is  used  to  open  the  door,  to 
carry  a  light  bundle.  It  is  still  better  to  make  the 
same  observations  concerning  other  people.  And 
with  such  acts  as  the  last  example  given  above,  it  will 
probably  be  advisable  not  to  try  to  watch  yourself,  as 
the  idea  of  the  watching  will  make  your  actions 
unnatural.  Such  acts  as  this  last  example  are  com- 
plex, and  so  your  notes  will  have  to  be  something  like 
this: 

Mrs.  A — 

Monday,  took  napkin,  put  it  on  lap,  looked  at  clock,  drank 

water. 
Tuesday,  took  napkin,  put  it  on  lap,  drank  water. 
Friday,  took  napkin,  put  it  on  lap,  looked  at  clock,  moved  her 

knife  and  fork. 
Monday,  took  napkin,  put  it  on  lap,  moved  her  knife  and  fork, 

drank  water. 

Of  course,  you  may  find  no  such  regularity. 

When  you  have  gained  an  opinion  concerning  the 
regularity  of  habits  in  individuals,  you  can  compare 
them  with  each  other — e.  g.,  suppose  you  have  ob- 
served ten  persons  who  regularly  take  off  the  same 
shoe  first.  Count  up  the  number  among  them  (i) 
who  take  off  the  right  shoe  first,  and  (2)  who  take  off 


226  The  Human  Nature  Club 

the  left  first.  You  can  also  see  whether  a  person  who 
is  regular  in  one  habit  tends  to  be  regular  in  all  sorts 
of  things,  and  vice  versa. 

3.  Take  some  simple  accomplishment  and  practice 
it  until  it  becomes  automatic — e.  g.,  writing  a  certain 
sentence  on  a  typewriter,  playing  a  piece  of  music, 
adding  columns  of  figures.  Keep  records  showing 
your  improvement  by  the  decrease  in  the  time  taken  as 
the  thing  becomes  habitual,  decrease  in  mistakes, 
decrease  in  effort,  decrease  in  disturbance  by  conver- 
sation, etc.,  increase  in  ability  to  yourself  do  some- 
thing else  at  the  same  time— ^.  g.,  talk,  read,  think, 
do  mental  arithmetic. 

Suppose,    for  example,   you  each   day  do  ten  ex- 
amples in  addition  of  this  length* 

94935 
88789 

67598 
88986 
45678 
98746 

94937 

89789 
68598 
56786 
88986 


After  a  while  you  will  be  able  to  add  and  talk  at 
the  same  time.  You  will  also  increase  in  speed,  and 
find  it  after  a  while  no  effort.  In  carrying  on  such  an 
experiment,  you  should  make  out  on  cards  about  fifty 
such  examples.  When  you  add,  lay  the  card  on 
a  piece  of  paper,  and  put  your  result  beneath  it,  thus: 


The  Human  Nature  Club 


227 


32657 
89456 

23472 

98657 
79864 

43729 
94976 
98678 

89567 
89976 
78868 
97869 


917769 

You  can  then  use  that  same  card  again  and  again  on 
later  days,  and  save  the  work  of  making  out  new  ex- 
amples. You  will  need  fifty  or  more  cards,  however, 
so  as  not  to  have  the  same  example  reappear  often 
enough  to  be  remembered. 

On  each  day,  or  every  second  or  third  day,  record 
(i)  the  time  it  takes  you  to  do  four  examples;  (2)  the 
number  of  mistakes  made  in  these  four,  if  any;  (3) 
your  ability  to  work  while  some  one  is  talking  to  you, 
and  (4)  your  ability  to  work  and  talk  at  the  same 
time.  Two  examples  may  be  done  under  each  of 
these  conditions.'  See  how  far  these  records  show  the 
formation  of  the  habit. 

*The  record  may  be  kept  in  this  way: 


Time  taken  to 
do  four. 

Mistakes  in 
four. 

Time  for  two 

when 

disturbed. 

Time  for  two 

while  repeating 

poetry. 

Jan.  4 

Jan.  5 

Jan    6 

Etc 

228  The  Human  Nature  Club 

You  can  write  the  correct  answer  on  the  back  of 
each  card,  or  you  can  number  the  cards  and  make  out 
a  key  with  the  right  answer  for  each  number.  There 
will  be  hardly  any  labor  in  comparing  the  answer  you 
obtain  with  that  on  the  card  or  in  the  key  and  notic- 
ing how  many  figures,  if  any,  are  wrong. 
A  Study  of  Pleasure. 

Get  as  many  people  as  you  can  to  write  down  or 
tell  you  the  ten  things  which  they  enjoy  most,  in 
which  they  feel  the  most  pleasure  at  the  time.  After 
this,  get  them  to  number  according  to  the  degree  of 
pleasure  they  gain  from  them  the  following:  * 

Eating  dinner. 

Playing  your  favorite  athletic  game. 

Playing  your  favorite  sedentary  game. 

Working  with  tools,  as  in  a  garden. 

Reading  a  novel. 

Hearing  music. 

Talking  to  a  friend. 

Day-dreaming. 

Learning  something. 

Writing  something. 

Look  over  your  lists.  Consider  whether  various 
scruples — conventional,  moral,  etc. — would  prevent 
people  from  mentioning  certain  things  which  might 
really  give  theiii  the  utmost  pleasure.  Consider  how 
far  any  one  is  himself  incapable  of  judging  what  he 
likes  best.  With  these  precautions,  notice  what 
pleasures  people  in  general  esteem,  how  far  individuals 
differ,  how  far  men  and  women  differ,  children  and 
adults.  Recall  the  pleasures  of  people  of  other 
nationalities.      How   much    of  people's   tastes   in   the 

'Copied  from  the  "Psychological  Tests"  used  at  Columbia  University. 


The  Human  Nature  Club  2,29 

matter  of  enjoyment  seems  inherited,  how  much  due 

to  training. 

Collecting  Data  for  the  Study  of  Heredity. 

The  aim  of  this  piece  of  work  is  to  obtain  a  careful 
record  of  some  simple  facts  about  the  physical  and 
mental  make-up  of  the  different  members  of  the  same 
family. 

Get  printed  a  hundred  or  more  sheets  like  the  fol- 
lowing: 

1.  Date  of  birth- _ Birthplace 

2.  Occupation Residences -- 

3.  Age  at  marriage 

4.  Age,  at  marriage,  of  wife 

5.  Mode  of  life  so  far  as  affecting  growth  or  health 

6.  Was  early  life  laborious?     Why  and  how?. 

7.  Adult  height — Color  of  hair  when  adult — Color  of  eyes-- 

8.  General  appearance 

9.  Bodily  strength  and  energy,  if  much  above  or  below  the 

average 

10.  Keenness  or  imperfection  of  sight  or  other  senses 

11.  Mental  powers  and  energy,  if  much  above  or  below  the 

average 

12.  Character  and  temperament 

13.  Favorite  pursuits  and  interests Artistic  aptitudes 

14.  Minor  ailments  to  ^   In  youth 

which  there  was  [■ 

special  liability)   In  middle  age 

,5.  Graver  illnesses  j  K  Sle  age:::;::::::::::;;::::;::: 

16.  Cause  and  date  of  death,  and  age  at  death 

17.  General  remarks 

Note. — This  table  is  taken  from  the  '  Family  Records '  of 
Mr.  Francis  Galton. 

Have  your  immediate  and  remote  relatives  fill  them 
©ut  carefully  and  completely.     At  the  head  of  each 


230  The  Human  Nature  Club 

put  the  name  and  relationship  of  the  person  fully.  Do 
not  say  grandfather,  but  father's  father,  or  mother's 
father,  according  to  the  side  of  the  family  on  which 
he  is.  So  with  all  relatives.  You  might  thus  have 
for  a  very  distant  relative: 

Mother's  father's  mother's  brother's  son. 

Keep  all  these  records  together.  You  will  find 
them  interesting  to  show  relatives,  and  to  examine 
yourself  for  cases  of  inherited  mental  qualities,  and 
for  the  influence  of  training  as  well. 

If  these  studies  lead  you  to  invent  others,  to  think 
about  human  life  for  yourself,  and  to  try  to  see  into 
it,  you  may  be  sure  that  they  are  worth  your  while. 

REFERENCES   FOR   THE    FURTHER   STUDY   OF  PSYCHOLOGY. 

The  best  book  to  begin  with  is  William  James's  Talks  to 
Teachers  on  Psychology,  etc.  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York 
Pp.   301.     Price,  $1.50. 

The  next  best  book  is  by  the  same  author;  Principles  of 
Psychology.  2  vols.  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York.  Pp.  1193. 
Price,  §4.80.  Read  first  chapters  IV,  IX,  X,  XI,  XII,  XIII, 
XIV,  XVI,  XVII,  XVIII,  XIX.  XXI,  XXII,  XXIII,  XXIV. 
XXV,  XXVI. 

If  this  much  reading  has  been  done,  any  of  the  following 
list  of  books  may  be  profitably  begun: 

E.  B,  Titchener,  Outline  of  Psychology.  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York.     Price,  $1.50. 

F.  Gallon,  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty.  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York.  (Out  of  print  at  present.)     Pp.  379. 

C.  Lloyd  Morgan,  Introduction  to  Comparative  Psychology. 
Scribner's.  New  York.  Pp.  377.  Price,  Si. 25.  (Discount  gen- 
erally obtainable.) 

G.  F.  Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology.  Hinds  &  Noble,  New 
York.    Price,  S1.60. 


The    Human  Nature  Club  231 

F.  Warner,  The  Study  of  Children.  The  Macmillan  Co., 
New  York.     Pp.  250.     Price,  $1.00. 

N.  Oppenheim,  The  Development  of  the  Child.  The  Mac- 
millan Co.,  New  York.    Pp.  292.    Price,  $1.25. 

In  connection  with  the  study  of  the  human  mind  it  is  of 
great  value  to  know  something  about  the  human  body.  For 
this  purpose,  read: 

The  Hujuan  Body,  H.  N.  Martin.  Elementary  Course,  pp. 
261;  Briefer  Course,  pp.  377.     Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York. 

Primer  of  Physiology,  T.  H.  Huxley,  revised  by  F.  S.  Lee. 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Abercrombie,  qnoted 90 

Action : 

after  deliberation 131-136 

automatic 7-10, 128,  139 

diseased  forms  of 136 

ideo-motor 128-129 

purposive 127-137 

relation  of  purposive  action 
to  attention 132-135 

Apperception 57-64 

Association : 

by  contiguity 92 

by  similarity 92 

cause  of 81-82 

conditioned  by  mental  sys- 
tems   84,  95-96 

frequency  as  a  factor  in 83 

of  ideas 83-85,  90-99 

recency  as  a  factor  in 83 

vividness  as  a  factor  in 83 

Associations,  permanence  of...78-79 

Attention 65-75 

brain  correlate  of 70 

diffused 69 

extent  of 69 

in    relation    to    purposive 

action 132-135 

in  voluntary  thinking 98-99 

influence  of  previous  expe- 
rience on 74 

meaning  of 66-68 

training  of 71-73 

Autobiography,    a    psycholog- 
ical  220-222 

Automatic  Activities: 

due  to  the  brain 7-10 

in    connection    with    pur- 
posive action 128 

originally  purposive 139 


PAGE 

Bernheim,  quoted 159-162 

Brain,  the 7-17,  19 

automatic  activities  due  to..7-10 
condition  of  due  to  past  ex- 
periences  58,  64 

correlate  of  attention 70 

function  of 13 

instincts   due  to  inherited 

structure  of 26-28 

law  of  habit  in  the 8-9 

Carpenter,  quoted 90 

Cause  of  association  of  idea9..81-82 

Cause  of  sensations 56 

Character 142-147 

brain  basis  of 143 

habits  as  elements  in 144 

how  far  acquirable 146 

idoasas  elements  in 145 

ideals  as  elements  in 145 

temperament  as  an  element 

in 145 

Chicks,  instincts  of 24 

Choice 130-134 

Color  blindness 47 

Contrast  of  sensations 53-54 

Criminals : 

heredity  and  environment  as 

factors  in  producing....  191-194 
psychology  of 190-196 

Delayed  instincts 25 

Delicacy,  of  discrimination  of 

sensations 49-52 

Diseases,  of  the  will 136 

Discrimination,     delicacy     of 

sense 49-52 

Drobisch,  quoted 89 

Dugdale,  quoted 192 


233. 


234  The  Human 

PAGE 

Effort: 

the  feeling  of  in  attention..71-75 

in  decision 134, 135 

Ebbinghaus,  quoted 80 

Ellis,  quoted 195 

Emotions,  the 115-126 

bodily  expression  of 115,  116 

cause  of 117-122 

control  of 122-124 

utility  of 124-126 

Experience : 

influence  of  previous 57-64 

influence  of  previous  on  at- 
tention     74 

Extent,  of  attention 69 

Freedom,  of  the  will 204-208 

Function : 

of  emotions 124-126 

of  memory 77 

of  nerve  cellg 15-17 

of  sensations 45-46 

Galton,  quoted 183, 184,  229 

Habit,  law  of,  in  the  brain 8-9 

Habits 138-142 

as  elements  in  character 144 

directions  for  an  empirical 

study  of 222-228 

ethical  implications  of  ...141-142 

Henkle,  quoted 89 

Heredity : 

and  acquired  traits 186-189 

and  environment 181-196 

and  mental  ability 184 

as  the  cause  of  instincts. ..27-28 
directions  for  an  empirical 
study  of 229-230 

Human  nature,  ways  of  study- 
ing  214-220 

Hypnotism 148-152 

anaesthesia  in 151 

dissociation  of  ideas  in.. .149-150 
forgetfulness  in  the  hypnotic 

trance 148-149 

hyperaosthesia  in 152 

suggestibility  in 150-152 


Nature  Club 

PAGE 

Illusions 63,    64 

Imagery,  mental 100-108 

Imagination :       See    Imagery, 
mental. 

Imitation 163-168 

and  invention 166-167 

and  suggestion 163-164 

of  the  mysterious 165 

learning  by 32 

Immortality,  of  the  mind 208-213 

Impulses,  insane 128,  129 

Influence     of     mind     on     the 

body 157-162 

Instincts 21-28 

delayed 25 

of  chicks 24 

transitory 26 

James,  William,  quoted. ..28,  42,  75, 
86,  87,  88,  89,  99,  117, 
119, 124, 126, 141, 152,  162,  209. 

Judgments 109,110 

Language,  how  far  instinctive..    23 

Learning : 

animal  method  of 35-36,  38-40 

by  ideas 33-34,  37,  41 

by  imitation 32 

by  trial  and  success 

29-31,  36,  38-40 

Meaning: 

feelings  of 108, 109 

of  attention 66-68 

Memory 76-89 

abnormalities  of 89-90 

cause  of 81-82 

changes  in  old  age 88-89 

function  of 77 

of  how  to  do  things 78,  79 

training  of  the 87,  88 

Mental  Imagery,  see  Imagery. 

Mental  Systems,  see  Systems. 

Mental  Training ;  See  Training. 

Mind,    influence    of,    on    the 
body 157-162 

Moll,  quoted 162 

Morrison,  quoted 193 


Index 


'^2>S 


PAGE 

Native  reactions 21-28 

Nerve  cells : 

function  of 15-17 

structure  of 14-15 

Permanence,  of  associations 
between  situations  and 
acts 78-79 

Philosophy,  and  psychology .200-213 

Plato,  quoted 211-213 

Pleasure,  directions  for  an  em- 
pirical study  of 228 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  quot- 
ed      36 

Practice,  directions  for  an  em- 
pirical study  of 226-228 

Psychology,  ways  of  study- 
ing  214-220 

Purposive  action 127-137 

Range  of  sensations 46 

Reactions,  life  as  a  series  of  ...42-45 
Reality,  the,  of  things 202-204 

Selection : 

in  voluntary  thinking 98-99 

learning  by 29-31,  85-36,  38-40 

Sensations 45-56 

cause  of 56 

contrast  of 53-54 

delicacy  of  discrimination 

of 49-52 

function  of 45-46 

range  of 46 

Sexes,  mental  differences  of  the  168 

Sidis,  quoted 153 

Sollier,  quoted 119 

Spontaneous  thinking  ...82-85,  90-96 


PAGE 

Studying  human  nature,  ways 
of 214-231 

Suggestion 152-162 

as  a  means  of  cure 157-162 

in  hypnotism 150-152 

masked 155-156 

Systems : 

mental 62 

influence  of  on  association 
of  ideas 84,  95-96 

Things,  reality  of 202-204 

Thorndike,  Edward,  quoted 41 

Training: 

influence  of   special  train- 
ing on  general  ability 170-180 

of  attention 71-73 

of  the  emotions 122-124 

of  the  memory 87-88 

of  the  will 135 

Trains  of  Thought:    See  Asso- 
ciation of  ideas. 

Transitory  instincts 26 

Transmission,  of  acquired  traits 
186-189 

Trial  and  success,  learning  by 
29-31.  35.  36,  38-40 

Unlearned  reactions 21-28 

Volition:  See  Purposive  Action. 

Voluntary  thinking 97-99 

attention  in 98-99 

selection  in  98-99 

Walking,  as  an  instinct 22 

Will,    the:     See  purposive  ac- 
tion, 
freedom  of  the 204-208 


A  LIST  OF 


BOOKS     FOR     TEACHERS 


PUBLISHED    BY 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    &   CO, 


Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom. 

By  T.  F.  G.  Dexter,  B.A.,  B.Sc,  and  A.  H.  Garlick,  B.A.,  author 
of  "  A  New  Manual  of  Method."     421  pages.     Crown  8vo.     $1.50. 

Many  students  have  little  difficulty  in  mastering  the  general 
principles  of  the  Science  of  Psychology,  but  experience  considerable 
difficulty  in  applying  those  principles  to  the  Art  of  Teaching  ;  and 
it  is  because  special  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  application  of 
the  subject  that  it  is  hoped  that  this  book  will  be  of  some  service, 
not  only  to  the  student  and  young  teacher,  but  also  to  teachers 
generally. — From  the  Preface. 

Recently  adopted  at  Yale,  Cornell, 
University  of  Mississippi,  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  University 
of  Minnesota,  Syracuse  University, 
Adelphi  College,  University  of 
Utah,  Temple  College  (Philadel- 
phia), Mount  Holyoke;  State  Normal 
Schools,  at  Plattsburgh,  N.  Y. ; 
Denver,  Colo.;  Peru,  Neb. ;  White- 
water, Wis.;  Lowell,  Mass. ;  Cheney, 
Wash. ;  Cedar  Falls,  la. ;  Winchester, 
Tenn.;  New  Paltz,  N.  ¥.;  New 
York  Training  School  for  Teachers  ; 
Training  Class,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Hon.     Joseph     W.     Southall, 

State  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction,  Virginia  : — "  I  cannot 
commend  too  highly  Dexter  and 
Garlick's  '  Psychology  in  the  School- 
room '  to  all  teachers  who  wish  to 
learn  the  scientific  principles  on 
which  all  correct  teaching  is  based. 
It  is  a  model  text-book." 

F.  M.  McMurry,  Teachers  Col- 
lege, Columbia  University  : — "  It  is 
particularly  valuable  for  teachers 
who  have  made  little  study  of  the 
subject  of  psychology  and  who 
desire  to  realize  its  practical  bearings 
upon  instruction." 


Albert  Leonard,  President  of 
Michigan  System  of  Normal 
Schools  : — "  This  is  a  book  which 
will  receive  a  cordial  welcome  at 
the  hands  of  wide-awake  teachers. 
It  is  altogether  the  best  book  of  the 
kind  that  I  have  seen." 

Miss  Lucy  Wheelock,  Kinder- 
garten Training  School,  Boston, 
Mass.: — "  It  has  proved  to  be  such 
a  treasure  that  we  are  to  adopt  it 
for  our  junior  class  book.  I  shall 
send  you  an  order  for  it  as  soon  as 
the  class  assembles." 

Gervase  Green,  Yale  Univer- 
sity:— "  It  will  fill  a  long-felt  need. 
The  psychology  is  sound,  and  the 
pedagogical  applications  full  and 
suggestive." 

Dr.  Joseph  S.  Taylor,  Editor  of 
New  York  Teachers'  Magazine  : — 
"  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine 
how  more  could  be  crowded  into 
equal  space  with  the  same  clearness 
that  we  find  in  this  delightful  book. 
We  have  had  applied  psychologies 
before  us  in  large  numbers,  but  we 
have  never  seen  one  so  simple  and 
full  of  meat  as  this." 


Lorn  mans.  Green,  &  Go's  Publications. 


German  Higher  Schools — The  History,  Organization,  and 
Methods  of  Secondary  Education  in  Germany. 

By  James  E.  Rlssell,  Ph.D.,  Dean  of  Teachers  College,  Columbia 
University,  New  York.  8vo.  468  pages.  With  7  Appendices  of  Tables 
and  a  Full  Index.     $2.25. 

This  book  is  the  result  of  Dr.  Russell's  personal  investigation  of  the  Ger- 
man Schools  at  the  instance  of  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  as  the  Special  Agent  of  the  United  States.  Very  little  has 
been  written  heretofore  in  English  on  the  secondary  education,  which  is  the 
foundation  of  the  German  University  training  and  the  basis  of  all  profes- 
sional service  in  the  Fatherland,  although  it  is  in  this  sphere  that  German 
education  can  be  studied  to  best  advantage. 

Contents:  Beginnings  of  German  Schools — The  Rise  of  Protestant 
Schools — The  Period  of  Transition — The  Reconstruction  of  the  Higher 
Schools — The  Prussian  School  System — The  Higher  Schools  of  Prussia 
— Foundation  and  Maintenance  of  Higher  Schools — Rules,  Regulations 
and  Customs — Examinations  and  Privileges — Student  Life  in  the  Higher 
Schools — Instruction  in  Religion — Instruction  in  German — Instruction 
in  Greek  and  Latin — Instruction  in  Modern  Languages — Instruction  in 
History  and  Geography — Instruction  in  Mathematics — Instruction  in 
the  Natural  Sciences — The  Professional  Training  of  Teachers — Ap- 
pointment, Promotion,  and  Emoluments  of  Teachers — Tendencies  of 
School  Reform — Merits  and  Defects  of  German  Secondary  Education — 
The  Privileged  Higher  Schools  of  Germany  in  1897 — Attendance  in 
Higher  Schools  in  Prussia — System  of  Privileges — Salary  Schedules — 
Pensions  of  Teachers  in  the  Higher  Schools  of  Germany — Extracts 
from  the  General  Pension  Laws  of  Prussia — Leading  Educational  Jour- 
nals of  Germany — Index. 


The  Outlook,  New  York:— "The 
book  abounds  in  matters  of  interest 
to  all  professional  teachers.  The 
work  is  certain  to  remain,  at  least  for 
years,  the  standard  reference-book 
and  authority  upon  this  subject." 

The  Dial,  Chicago: — "The  au- 
thor shows  wide  readmg  on  this  sub- 
ject and  skilful  use  of  the  note-book. 
He  sprinkles  quotations  over  his 
pages  most  plentifully,  but  he  so 
weaves  them  into  his  narrative  or 
exposition  as  not  seriously  to  impair 
the  unity  of  his  composition.  But, 
what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  he 
shows,  when  dealing  with  the  second- 
ary schools  as  they  now  exist,  a  large 
first-hand  knowledge,  obtained  by 
personal  visitation  of  schools  and 
conference  with  teachers  and  educa- 
tional authorities.     There  is  no  work 


in  the  English  language,  known  to 
us,  that  contains  so  much  and  so 
valuable  information  about  the  sec- 
ondary schools  of  Germany.  Nor  is 
the  book  a  book  of  facts  merely  ;  the 
author  has  an  eye  also  for  ideas  and 
forces,  and  conducts  his  historical 
narration  with  constant  reference  to 
these  factors." 

Public  Opinion,  New  York: — 
"  An  original  and  very  valuable  con- 
tribution to  the  literature  of  peda- 
gogies. For  Germany's  position  in 
educational  matters  is  an  assurance 
that  one  may  learn  much  from  a 
study  of  any  of  her  schools.  After 
several  historical  chapters  each  study 
of  the  secondary  schools  is  taken  up 
separately — a  very  wise  plan  which 
greatly  simplifies  a  search  for  par- 
ticular information." 


Longmans,  Green,  &-  Go's  Publications. 


AMERICAN  CITIZEN  SERIES. 

A  Series  of  Books  on  the  Practical  Workings  of  the  Functions  of  the 
State  and  of  Society,  with  Especial  Reference  to  American  Conditions 
asid  Experience.  Under  the  Editorship  of  Dr.  Albert  Bushnell 
Hari',  of  Harvard  University. 

Outline  of  Practical  Sociology  with  Special  Reference  to 

American  Conditions.  Third  Edition,  Revised. 

By  Carroll  D.  Wright,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor;  Lec- 
turer in  the  Catholic  University  of  America.  Large  crown  8vo,  with 
12  Maps  and  Diagrams.     464  pages.     $2.00. 

Contents  :  Part  I.  The  Basis  of  Practical  Sociology.  Intro- 
duction— I.  Development  of  the  Science  of  Social  Relation — 2.  The 
Population  of  the  United  States — 3.  The  Status  of  the  Population  of 
the  United  States — 4.  Native  and  Foreign  Born.  Fart  II.  Units  of 
Social  Organism,  i.  Social  Units — 2.  Political  Units.  Part  III. 
Questions  of  Population,  i.  Immigration — 2.  Urban  and  Rural 
Population — 3.  Special  Problems  of  City  Life.  Part  IV.  Questions 
of  the  Family,  i.  Marriage  and  Divorce — 2.  Education — 3.  Employ- 
ment of  Women  and  Children.  Part  V.  The  Labor  System,  i.  Old 
and  New  Systems  of  Labor — 2.  Appliances  of  the  Modern  Labor  Sys- 
tem— 3.  Relations  of  Employer  and  Employee — 4.  Questions  Relating 
to  Strikes  and  Lockouts.  Part  VI.  Social  Well-Being.  i.  The 
Accumulation  of  Wealth — 2.  Poverty — 3.  The  Relation  of  Art  to  Social 
Well-Being — 4.  Are  the  Rich  Growing  Richer,  and  the  Poor  Poorer  ? 
Part  VII.  The  Defence  of  Society,  i.  Criminology — 2.  The  Pun- 
ishment of  Crime — 3.  The  Temperance  Question — 4.  Regulation  of 
Organizations.  Part  VIII.  Remedies  :  Solutions  that  are  Proposed 
for  Social  and  Economic  Difficulties.     Maps  and  Diagrams.     Index. 


Professor  C.  M.  Geer,  Bates 
College,  Lewiston,  Me.: — "  I  am 
very  much  pleased  with  the  book,  as 
it  covers  what  ought  to  be  given  in  a 
college  course  in  sociology." 

Professor    I.    A.    Loos,   State 

University,  Iowa  City,  la.: — "I 
think  Dr.  Wright  has  done  his  work 
remarkably  well,  and  he  alone  could 
have  given  us  just  this  work, crammed 
with  knowledge  and  good  sense, 
lighting  up  the  path  of  the  student 
through  the  mazes  of  documentary 
material." 

American  Journal  of  Sociology, 
University  of  Chicago,  Chicago,  111. : 
— "  Colonel  Wright  could  not  fail  to 
produce  a  notable  book  on  the  sub- 
ject to  which  he  has  devoced  this 
volume.  There  is  no  equally  avail- 
able compilation  and  classification." 


Outlook,  New  York  :— "  The  in- 
itial volume  ....  sets  a  high 
standard  for  its  successors  to  pre- 
serve. .  .  .  These  bibliographies 
fit  the  book  peculiarly  for  advanced 
classes,  from  which  independent 
work  is  expected.  The  field  which 
the  volume  covers  is  extremely  broad. 
On  all  these  subjects  a 
prodigious  amount  of  American  sta- 
tistical information  is  given." 

Dial : — "  In  this  field  of  thought 
Mr.  Wright's  book  presents  more 
abundant  stores  of  fact  than  any 
similar  publication.  The  statistical 
matter  is  actually  made  interesting. 
The  student  of  society 
is  here  supplied  with  a  mass  of  data 
of  great  importance,  and  is  directed 
to  abundant  and  valuable  sources  of 
information  and  discussion." 


Longmans,  Green,  &■  Go's  Publications. 


The  Art  of  Teaching. 

By  David  Salmon,  Principal  of  Swansea  Training  College.  Crown 
8vo.  289  pages.  $1.25. 
This  book  is  devoted  to  the  exposition  of  teaching  as  a  Technical  Art, 
founded  on  experience,  philosophical  principle  and  scientific  observation. 
In  the  Introduction  the  author  adopts  Milton's  definition  of  "  a  complete 
and  generous  education,"  but  points  out  that  the  school  teacher  is  really 
only  one  factor  in  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  culture,  and  that,  even 
to  be  efficiently  so,  he  has  need  of  professional  training.  His  aim  must  be 
directed  to  secure  the  utility,  discipline,  and  pleasure  of  the  taught  as 
results  of  exercised  activity.  The  author  takes  up  in  successive  chapters— 
(i)  Order,  Attention,  and  Discipline,  and  gives  rules  applicable  to  the 
reo-ulated  and  successful  exercise  of  these  that  they  may  become  habitual  ; 
(2)  Oral  Questioning — how  to  proceed  with  and  succeed  in  it,  and  what  to 
avoid  while  engaged  in  the  process  ;  (3)  Object  Lessons— what  to  aim  at  in 
giving  them,  and  how  to  accomplish  the  intended  result ;  (4)  Reading, 
Spelluig  Writing,  and  Arithmetic— how  they  should  be  taught,  and  the 
relative  merits  of  various  methods  of  procedure  ;  (5)  English,  including 
Composition,  Grammar,  and  Literature  ;  (6)  Geography,  and  how  to  make 
the  teaching  of  it  educative  and  valuable  ;  (7)  History,  and  the  methods  of 
giving  it  a  living  (not  a  bookworm)  interest ;  (8)  the  Education  of  Infants— 
as  a  speciality. 

[From  the  New  York  Natioti!\ 

Salmon's  contributions  to  elementary  school  literature  are  many  and  valu- 
able. It  suffices  to  mention  his  "Object  Lessons,"  "School  Grammar, 
"School  Composition,"  "Stories  from  Early  English  History."  He  has 
now  collected  into  the  volume  before  us  his  views  on  the  "  Art  of  Teach- 
ing." The  treatment  of  the  subject  is  orderly,  thorough,  authoritative.  He 
takes  up  first  the  fundamental  matters  of  order,  attention,  discipline.  Then 
comes  a  charming  discussion  of  the  art  of  oral  questioning.  Next  follows  an 
estimate  of  the  claims  upon  attention  of  the  main  subjects  of  elementary  study, 
with  invaluable  hints  as  to  the  teaching  of  each.  The  subjects  treated  are  : 
Reading,  Spelling,  Writing,  Arithmetic,  English,  Geography,  History.  This 
is,  indeed,  familiar  ground,  but  the  treatment  is  so  able,  so  acute,  so  com- 
prehensive, that  there  is  constant  variety  and  constant  interest.  A  very 
valuable  portion  of  the  volume  is  the  section  of  sixty  pages  on  Infant  Edu- 
cation. Not  only  are  the  history  and  development  of  the  kindergarten  here 
admirably  discussed,  but  the  original  and  valuable  contributions  of  England 
to  the  Education  of  young  children  are  set  forth.  Most  wise  and  helpful  is 
Salmon's  discussion  of  the  best  ways  of  teaching  the  elementary  studies. 
This  portion  of  the  book  is  a  true  teachers'  manual.  It  is  a  genuine  pleasure 
to  commend  without  qualification  this  admirable  manual.  It  is  a  worthy 
companion  to  Fitch's  "Lectures  on  Teaching,"  and,  like  that  book,  ought 
to  be  on  every  teacher's  shelf. 


H.  C.  Missimer,  Superintendent 
of  Public  Schools,  Erie,  Pa.: — "I 
have  read  Salmon's  '  Art  of  Teach- 
ing,' and  believe  it  to  be  the  best  work 
on  the  subject  yet  published.     It  is 


simple,  direct,  clear,  practical,  and 
has  evidently  been  written  by  one 
who  has  had  experience  with  every 
problem  and  difficulty  of  the  school- 
room." 


Longmans,  Green,  &-  Go's  Publications.  ■; 

A  New  Manual  of  Method. 

By  A.  H.  Garlick,  B.A.,  Head  Master  of  the  Woolwich  P.  T.  Centre. 
Crown  8vo.     JVezo  Edition.     398  pages.     $1.20.* 

Contents  :  School  Economy — Discipline — Classification  (Grading) — 
Notes  of  Lessons — Class  Teaching — Object  Lessons — Kindergarten — 
Arithmetic  —  Reading  —  Spelling — Writing  —  Geography —  History — 
English — Elementary  Science — Music. 

The  experience  of  the  author  in  the  teaching  of  School  Method  has  led 
him  to  believe  that  young  students  require  much  more  help  in  this  subject 
than  is  offered  in  existing  manuals,  and  that  it  is  essential  that  the  informa- 
tion contained  should  be  offered  in  its  most  serviceable  form.  His  experi- 
ence has  shown  that  no  book  is  suitable  unless  it  is  comprehensive  in  its 
range,  practical  in  its  nature,  and  modern  in  its  methods.  For  this  reason 
all  the  subject-matter  in  this  book  has  been  carefully  methodized,  and  much 
of  it  thrown  into  teaching  form — the  form  which  is  most  difficult  to  young 
teachers  to  acquire,  and  the  most  useful  in  practice. 

This  work  is  based  on  the  writer's  teaching  notes  during  the  past  ten 
years  ;  and  as  it  grew  to  meet  the  wants  of  his  own  pupils  for  their  recur- 
ring examinations,  it  is  believed  that  it  will  be  found  specially  suitable  for 
teachers  and  students. 

William  H.  Maxw^ell,  City  Superintendent,  New  York,  in  the  Educa- 
tional Reviezv; —  "  .  .  .  He  treats  of  all  the  subjects  in  the  elementary 
curriculum.  .  .  .  The  conspicuous  merits  of  the  book  are  its  clear- 
ness, its  conciseness,  and  its  fullness.  If  a  teacher  is  at  a  loss  to  know 
how  to  teach  an  important  point,— say  in  arithmetic,  history  or  geography, 
—  he  has  only  to  open  this  book  at  the  appropriate  heading,  and  he  will  find 
an  excellent  method  ot  presenting  it,  which,  if  he  has  any  ingenuity,  he  can 
easily  adapt  to  his  own  uses.  If  he  is  in  doubt  about  a  matter  of  discipline, 
such,  for  instance,  as  how  to  treat  a  case  of  obstinacy,  he  will  find  the 
different  kinds  of  obstinacy  classified,  and  the  appropriate  treatment  sug- 
gested for  each  kind.  In  short,  the  book  is  a  vade  mecuni  which  the  teacher 
should  no  more  think  of  reading  through  than  he  would  of  perusing  the 
dictionary  from  cover  to  cover,  but  which  he  will  do  well  to  consult  when 
confronted  with  a  difficulty.     .     .     .  " 

J  J.  McNulty,  Professor  of  Philosophy,  the  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York  : — "  In  our  pedagogical  course,  we  are  using  Garlick's  Manual  of 
Method  as  a  practical  guide  for  students  intending  to  teach.  The  remark- 
able success  of  our  candidates  for  state  and  city  licenses,  and  the  satisfac- 
tory results  of  the  examinations  in  methods  of  teaching,  I  attribute,  in  large 
measure,  to  the  interesting  manner  in  which  the  various  subjects  are  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Garlick." 

Nation,  New  York  : — "It  is  the  best  manual  of  its  scope  in  English." 

The  Independent,  New  York  : — "  The  notes  given  on  all  these  topics 
are  those  of  a  master,  and  of  a  master  from  whom  any  teacher  in  these 
grades  of  instruction  might  be  glad  to  receive  suggestions." 

Professor  Carla  Wenckebach,  Wellesley  College, Wellesley,  Mass.: — 
"It  is  excellent.      No  teacher  can  do  without  it." 


6  Longmans,  Green,  &  Go's  Publications. 

Teaching  and  Organisation. 

A  Manual  of  Practice,  with  Especial  Reference  to  Secondary  Instruc- 
tion.    Edited  by  P.  A.  Barnett.     Crown  8vo.     43S  pages.     $2.00. 

The  object  of  this  Manual  is  to  collect  and  co-ordinate  for  the  use  of 
students  and  teachers,  the  experience  of  persons  of  authority  in  special 
branches  of  educational  practice,  and  to  cover  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
whole  field  of  the  work  of  Secondary  Schools  of  both  higher  and  lower 
grades. 

The  subjects  treated  in  the  22  chapters  are  as  follows  :  The  Criterion  in 
Education — Organization  and  Curricula  in  Boys'  Schools — Kindergarten — 
Reading — Drawing  and  Writing — Arithmetic  and  Mathematics — English 
Grammar  and  Composition — English  Literature — Modern  History — Ancient 
Histor}' — Geography — Classics — Science — Modern  Languag-es — Vocal  Music 
— Discipline — Ineffectiveness  of  Teaching — Specialization — School  Libraries 
— School  Hygiene — Apparatus  and  Furniture — Organization  and  Curricula 
in  Girls'  Schools. 

A  Manual  of  Clay=Modelling  for  Teachers  and  Scholars. 

By  Mary  Louisa  Hermione  Unwin.  With  66  Illustrations  and  a 
Preface  by  T.  G.  Roofer,  M.A.  Balliol  College,  Oxford.  i2mo. 
$1.00. 

The  course  set  forth  in  this  Manual  is  suitable  for  children  of  six  or  seven 
years  of  age  and  upwards.  It  is  a  great  advantage  to  young  children  to 
learn  to  handle  the  clay  and  to  become  accustomed  to  using  it.  They  may 
begin  with  the  simplest  objects,  such  as  beads,  round  or  flat,  of  different 
sizes  ;  cherries  with  string  or  wicker  stalks  ;  a  sausage,  or  cigar  ;  a  small 
saucer,  or  a  basket,  a  bun,  or  an  open  pea-pod  with  loose  peas  in  it  made 
separately  ;  a  pat  of  butter,  or  a  cottage  loaf,  are  also  suitable.  For  the 
work  of  advanced  pupils,  or  for  the  higher  classes  in  schools,  more  difficult 
subjects  may  be  attempted. 

Kindergarten  Guide. 

By  Lois  Bates.  With  numerous  Illustrations,  chiefly  in  half-tone,  and 
16  colored  plates.     Crown  8vo.     388  pages.     $1.50.* 

In  addition  to  a  full  description  of  the  kindergarten  gifts  and  occupations, 
the  book  shows  how  ordinary  subjects  may  be  taught  on  kindergarten 
principles. 

Churchman,  New  York: — "A  long  needed  hand-book  for  the  kinder- 
garten teacher.  .  .  .  The  whole  course  of  instruction  is  elaborately 
explained  with  full  illustrations,  so  that  the  teacher  possesses,  in  this  i2mo 
volume,  a  complete  compendium  for  her  work." 

Journal  of  Education,  Boston,  Mass.: — "  Never  before  has  there  been 
so  full,  varied,  and  detailed  a  treatment  of  the  subject  from  the  standpoint 
of  teacher,  parent,  and  child.  No  family  in  which  there  are  little  children 
should  be  without  this  sum  of  all  kindergarten  virtues." 


Longmans,  Green,  &■  Go's  Publications.  7 

Games  Without  Music  for  Children. 

By  Lois  Bates,  author  of  "  Kindergarten    Guide,"  etc.     i2mo,  cloth. 
112  pages.     $0.60.* 
Contents  :    I.    Games  for  the   School   Room — II.    Games  for  the  Play- 
ground— III.  Guessing  Rhymes. 

The  object  of  these  games  is  to  introduce  variety  when  it  is  needed  in 
the  ordinary  school  routine,  and  to  form  a  means  of  recreation  to  the 
children  when  unfavorable  weather  makes  the  usual  playtime  impossible. 

Briefs  for  Debate  on  Current,   Political,  Economic,  and 

Social  Topics. 

Edited  by  W.  Du  Bois  Brookings,  A.B.,  and  Ralph  Curtis  Rixg- 
WALT,  A.B.      With   an    Introduction   on   "The  Art  of  Debate,"  by 
Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  Ph.D.      Crown   Svo.      With  Full  Index. 
260  pages.     $1.25. 
In  use  as  a  text-book  in  Harvard  University,  Columbia  University,  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,   University  of  Michigan,  and  other  leading  insti- 
tutions. 

"  I  cannot  resist  telling  you  that  '  Briefs  for  Debate'  has  proved  itself  to 
be  one  of  the  most  useful  books  in  the  librar\'.  We  use  it  constantly  in 
connection  with  the  High  School  work." — C.  K.  Bolton,  Librarian,  Pubhc 
Library,  Brookline,  ^lass. 

The  Will  to  Believe,  and  Other  Essays  in  Popular  Phil= 
osophy. 

By  William  James,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Psychology  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity.    Large  crown  Svo.     Cloth,  gilt  top.     349  pages.     $2.00. 

Historical  Survey  of  Pre=Christian  Education. 

By  S.  S.  Laurie,  A.M.,  LL.D.,  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh.     New 
Edition.     Crown  Svo.     423  pages.     $2.00. 


Dean  Russell,  Teachers  Col- 
lege, Columbia  University  : — "  The 
book  is  practically  the  only  one  we 
can  use  in  our  courses  on  History 
of  Early  Education." 

Martin  G.  Brumbaugh,  Com- 
missioner    of      Education,     Puerto 


Rico  : — "  I  have  used  it  .    .    .    with 
great  success." 

Arnold  Tompkins,  State  Nor- 
mal University,  111.; — "  I  am  a  great 
admirer  of  Prof.  Laurie  and  his 
work,  .  .  ,  and  will  be  glad  to 
give  it  whatever  recommendation  and 
prominence  I  am  able  to  give  it." 

Recently  introduced  in  the  universities  of  Indiana,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
Missouri,  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  Colorado,  Nebraska  ;  State  Normal  School 
at  Oshkosh,  Wis. ;  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences ;  Columbia 
University,  etc. 


8 


Longmans,  Green,  &-  Go's  Publications. 


Common  Sense  in    Education. 

By  P.  A.  Barnett,  M.  A.     Crown  8vo.     331  pages.     $1.50. 

This  volume  is  based  on  a  systematic  course  of  lectures  on  the  Practice 
of  Education,  which  was  delivered  to  Teachers  during  the  last  term  of  1898. 
The  lectures  have  been  re-written  and  enlarged,  and  additional  matter 
treated,  so  as  to  form  a  complete  introduction  to  the  study  of  current  prob- 
lems of  teaching  and  school  practice.  Such  points  of  general  theory  are 
discussed  as  determine  organization,  curriculum,  and  schoolroom  procedure. 

The  subject  of  education  is  treated  under  the  following  general  heads  :  — 
I.  Lessons  from  the  History  of  Education  ;  Warnings  from  Demonstrated 
Errors — 2.  The  Physical  Basis  of  Education,  and  the  Hygiene  of  Learning 
— 3.  The  General  Discipline  of  Character — 4.  Discipline  in  Instruction — 5. 
Curricula — 6.  Audible  Speech  ;  Native  and  Foreign  Languages — 7.  Liter- 
ature— 8.  Science  and  Mathematics — 9.  History  and  Geography — 10.  The 
"  Classical  "  Languages — 11.  Special  Studies  and  Examinations — 12.  The 
Makinof  of  the  Teacher. 


Paul  H.  Hanus,  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, Cambridge,  Mass.  :  —  "I 
have  looked  the  book  through  with 
much  interest.  While  I  cannot  agree 
with  all  the  author's  views,  I  am  glad 


to  see  that  the  book  justifies  the 
title.  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  calling 
the  attention  of  students  and  teach- 
ers to  it." 


Selections  from  the  Sources  of  English  History  :  being 
a  Supplement  to  Text=books  of  English  History, 
B.C.  55 — A.D.  1832. 

W.  Colby,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  Professor 
Montreal.     Crown  Svo.     361  pages. 

have  books  of  this  kind  that  give 
a  glimpse  at  the  original  sources  in 
a  way  to  attract  rather  than  to  repel 
the  young  student." 

Professor  Allen  Johnson,  Iowa 
College,  Grinnell,  Iowa; — "Let  me 
add  simply  that  I  am  greatly  pleased 
with  the  presswork  of  this  volume  ;  it 
is  a  pleasure  to  put  so  faultless  a  piece 
of  work  into  the  hands  of  students." 

Journal  of  Education,  Boston  : 
— "  Few  '  supplements  '  are  as  indis- 
pensable to  the  satisfactory  study  of 
any  subject  as  is  Dr.  Colby's  '  Selec- 
tions from  the  .Sources  of  English 
History.'  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  no  teacher  should  conduct  a  class 
in  English  history  without  making 
constant  use  of  this  book." 


Arranged  and  edited  by  Charles 
of  History  in  McGill  University, 
$1.50. 

Professor    Max   Farrand, 

Wesleyan  University,  Middletown, 
Conn.  :  —  "  The  most  satisfactory 
expression  of  opinion  that  I  can 
make  to  you,  I  suppose,  of  Colby's 
.Selections,  is  the  announcement  that 
I  am  so  greatly  pleased  with  it  that 
I  shall  adopt  it  for  use  in  my  class 
in  English  History  for  next  year." 

Professor  Benjamin  S.  Terry, 

University  of  Chicago,  Chicago, 
111.: — "It  is  a  good  book,  and 
something  which  the  teacher  of 
English  History  has  long  needed. 
I  shall  be  very  glad  to  use  it  in  my 
own  work." 

Julius     Howard     Pratt,     Jr., 

Milwaukee  Academy,  Milwaukee, 
Wis.: — "  It  is  very  satisfactory  to 


Longmans,  Green,  and  Go's  Publications.  9 

Studies  in  American  Education. 

By  Albert  Bi'shnell  Hart,  Ph.D.,  of  Harvard  University,  author  of 
"  Epoch  Maps,"  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Federal  Government," 
etc.     Crown  8vo,  gilt  top.     157  pages.     $1.25. 


Beacon,  Boston: — "Professor 
Hart  is  a  keen  observer  and  a  pro- 
found thinker;  he  knows  what  Ameri- 
can education  is,  and  he  knows  what 
it  ought  to  be.  .   .   .   His  whole  treat- 


ment of  the  subject  is  vigorous  and 
original.  He  has  a  most  helpful  article 
on  the  study  of  history,  and  another 
equally  significant  on  the  teaching  of 
history  in  the  secondary  schools." 


Work  and  Play  in  Girls'  Schools. 

By  Three  Head  Mistresses.  I. — Intellectual  Education,  including 
Humanities,  Mathematics,  Science,  and  /Esthetics,  by  Dorothea 
Beale.  II. — The  Moral  Side  of  Education,  by  Lucy  H.  M.  Soulsby. 
III. — Cultivation  of  the  Body,  by  Jane  Frances  Dove.  Crown  8vo. 
443  pages.     $2.25. 


Hon.  W.  T.  Harris,  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education: 
— "  The  book  suggests  not  only  use- 
ful devices  in  the  teaching  of  special 
branches,  but  abounds  in  profound 


discussions  on  the  very  nature  of 
school  education  itself.  I  think  you 
ought  to  bring  this  book  to  the  atten- 
tion of  our  teachers  by  advertise- 
ments and  circulars." 


A  Teachers'  Manual  of  Elementary  Laundry  Work. 

By  Fanny   L.  Calder  and  E.  E.  Mann,  of  the   Liverpool    Training 
School  of  Cookery.     Fcp.  8vo.     85  pages.     $0.30.* 


Training  of  the  Young  in  Laws  of  Sex. 

By  the  Rev.  Hon.  Edward  Lyttelton,  M.A.  ,  Head  Master  of  Hailey- 
bury  College,  author  of  "  Mothers  and  Sons,"  etc.  Crown,  8vo. 
127  pages.      $1.00. 


John  Meigs,  Principal  of  The 
Hill  School,  Pottstown,  Pa.: — "You 
deserve   the  thanks  of    parents  and 


schoolmasters    the    world    over   for 
publishing  this  book." 


Boyhood:  A  Plea  for  Continuity  in  Education. 

By  Ennis  Richmond.     Crown  8vo.     154  pages.     $i.oo. 

Derby  Mercury : — "We  are  quite  whom,  after  all,  mainly  rests  the  re- 
sure  that  this  book  will  prove  very  sponsibility  of  guidance  in  the  early 
helpful,  especially  to  mothers,  upon      days  of  childhood." 


Through  Boyhood  to  Manhood :  A  Plea  for  Ideals. 

By  Ennis  Richmond,  author  of  "  Boyhood  :  A  Plea  for  Continuity  in 
Education."     Crown  8vo.     200  pages.     $r.oo 


lo  Longmans,  Green,  &-  Go's  Publications. 


Exercises  in  Geography. 

First  Series. — Elementary  Exercises  in  General  Geography.  Special 
application  to  North  and  South  America.  By  C.  H.  Leete,  A.M., 
Ph.D.,  Fellow  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  Head  Master 
Dr.  Sach's  School  for  Girls,  New  York.  With  a  colored  Map.  i2mo. 
Cloth.     66  pages.     $0.40.* 

*^*  An  edition  for  the  use  of  teachers,  with  special  Notes  and  Suggestions 
upon  the  use  of  the  Exercises,  has  also  been  prepared.     Price,  cloth,  $0.50. 

The  object  of  these  exercises  is  first  to  introduce  into  the  early  years  of 
Geography  Study  a  training  in  close  observation,  in  recording  facts  and 
in  making  deductions.  The  exercises  offer  material  for  connected  lessons 
leading  from  the  observation  of  single  details  to  the  preparation  of  a  com- 
plete description  of  a  large  and  complicated  subject.  The  pupils  are  led  to 
collate  the  facts  for  themselves,  and  write  their  own  descriptions.  They 
learn  as  they  work:  the  result  of  this  is  the  power  of  perceiving  essential 
facts,  and  of  recording  what  is  seen.  The  exercises  are  based  upon  Long- 
mans' New  School  Atlas,  which  is  the  principal  material  in  the  hands  of  the 
pupils  from  the  age  of  nine  to  twelve. 

A  prospectus  of  Longmans'  School  Geography  and  Longmans*  New 
School  Atlas,  with  specimen  maps,  and  a  pamphlet  on  the  Study  of  Geogra- 
phy, will  be  sent  to  any  teacher  on  request. 

Hints  to  Teachers  and  Students  on  the  Choice  of 
Geographical  Books  for  Reference  and  Reading, 
with  Classified  Lists. 

Prepared  at  the  request  of  the  Geographical  Association  by  Hugh 
Robert  Mill,  D.  Sc,  F.R.S.E.F.R.G.S.,  etc.     lamo.     $1.25. 

*:(c*  The  object  of  this  book  is  to  place  before  teachers  and  students  a 
selection  of  the  best  available  books  on  Geography. 

Object  Lessons  in  Geography. 

By  T.  F.  G.  Dexter,  B.A.,  B.Sc,  and  A.  H.  Garlick,  B.A.  Crown 
8vo.     328  pages.     $1.10.* 

An  attempt  is  made  in  this  book  to  teach  the  Elements  of  Geography  by 
means  of  Object  Lessons.  The  book  is  furnished  with  illustrations,  and  a 
chapter  is  added  on  "  Hints  on  the  Making  of  Geographical  Models." 

The  Teaching  of  Drawing. 

By  L  H.  Morris,  Art  Master.  With  675  Illustrations.  Crown  Svo. 
267  pages.     $1.50. 

The  object  of  this  manual  is  to  provide  a  fairly  complete  course  of 
methodical  teaching  in  drawing. 

The  book  contains  675  illustrations,  which  have  been  specially  drawn  for 
the  purpose.  The  freehand  examples,  which  are  mostly  shown  in  stages, 
may  be  divided  into  three  sections,  viz.,  Conventional  Ornament,  Plant 
Forms,  and  Common  Objects.  Considerable  space  is  devoted  to  the 
teaching  of  Scale  Drawing,  Model  Drawing,  and  .Solid  Geometry,  as  these 
parts  of  the  subject  require  the  most  skillful  and  intelligent  teaching. 


Longmans,  Green,  &  Co' s  Publications.  ii 

ongman's  Object  Lessons. 

Hints  on  Preparing  and  Giving  Them.  With  full  Notes  of  Complete 
Courses  of  Lessons  on  Elementary  Science. 

By  David  Salmon,  Principal  of  the  Training  College,  Swansea. 
Revised  and  Adapted  to  American  Schools  By  John  Y.  Woodhull, 
Professor  of  Methods  of  Teaching  Natural  Science  in  the  Teachers 
College,  Columbia  University.     152  Illustrations.     i2mo.     246  pages. 

^I.IO.* 

Part  I — Hints  on  Preparing  and  Giving  Lessons  :  Should 
Science  be  Taught  ? — When  should  Science  Teaching  Begin  ? — Subjects 
of  Lessons — Matter  of  Lessons — Notes  of  Lessons — Illustrations — 
Language — Questions — Telling  and  Eliciting — Emphasis — Summary — 
Recapitulation.     (Pp.  1-36.) 

Part  II.     Notes  of  Lessons  :  First  Year. — {a)  Lessons  on  Common 

Properties,     {h)  Lessons  on  Common  Animals,     {c)  Lessons  on  Plants. 

Second  Year. — {a)  Lessons   on  Common    Properties.     (/')  Lessons   on 

Animals.       (<)    Lessons   on    Plants. 

Third    Year. — {a)  Lessons    on    Elementary   Chemistry   and    Physics. 

{b)  Lessons   on    Animals,     {c)  Lessons  on  Flowers. 

Fourth    year. — {a)    Lessons    on     Elementary    Physics.       (b)    General 

Lessons  on    Natural  History,     {c)   Lessons  on  Elementary  Botany — 

Notes  of   a  Lesson  on  the   Cat. — Index.     (Pp.  41-238.) 

A  four  years'  course  in  science  is  here  scheduled  that  embraces  botany, 
zoology,  chemistry,  and  physics.  The  four  subjects  are  studied  throughout 
the  course,  the  lessons  being  graded  to  suit  the  intellectual  development  of 
the  child.  Throughout  the  book  new  knowledge  gained  is  made  the 
stepping-stone  to  something  higher,  co-ordinating  not  only  the  facts  of  any 
one  science,  but  also  the  various  sciences  themselves. 

The  process  of  comparing  objects  in  order  to  determine  their  similarities 
and  differences,  as  a  basis  of  classification,  is  an  important  feature  of  the 
book. 

Blementary  Science  Lessons. 

Being  a  Systematic  Course  of  Practical  Object  Lessons.  Illustrated 
by  Simple  E.xperiments.  By  W.  Hewitt,  B.Sc.  Parts  I.,  II.,  III., 
and  IV.     Each,  $0.50.* 

This  course  of  elementary  science  lessons  is  designed  and  arranged  spe- 
cially for  the  purpose  of  developing  and  training  the  minds  of  young 
children.  Each  book  might  stand  by  itself  or  be  combined  with  any' other 
course  of  lessons,  being  general  and  fundamental  in  its  character. 

The  course  forms  a  continuous  and  connected  system  of  practical  object 
lessons  running  throughout  the  whole  of  the  elementary  school  course  and 
developing  into  the  more  specific  experimental  science  teaching  of  the 
higher  standard. 

A  Course  of  Simple  Object  Lessons  for  Infants. 

In  two  Series.  By  W.  Hewitt,  B.Sc.  Second  edition.  i2mo.  Each 
Series,  So.  20.* 


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